WILLIAMS   COLLEGE   AND 
FOREIGN  MISSIONS 


THE    HAYSTACK    MONUMENT 


WILLIAMS  COLLEGE  AND 
FOREIGN  MISSIONS 


Biographical  Sketches  of  Williams  College  Men 

Who  Have  Rendered  Special  Service 

to  the^Cause  of  Foreign 

Missions 


BY 

JOHN  H.   HEWITT 


THE  PILGRIM  PRESS 
BOSTON  NEW  YORK  CHICAG0 


Copyright  1014 
By  LUTHER  H.  CARY 


BOSTON 
THE    PILGRIM    PBESvS 


TO    THE 

ALUMNI  AND  UNDERGRADUATES 
OF   WILLIAMS  COLLEGE 

THIS    RECORD    OF    LIVES    NOBLY    LIVED 
IS   AFFECTIONATELY  DEDICATED 


PREFACE 

Or  the  127  persons  whose  biographies  are  given  in 
this  volume,  nearly  all  served  as  missionaries  in  foreign 
fields;  a  few  being  sent  under  appointment  of  the 
American  Board,  in  the  earlier  years  of  the  last  century, 
to  labor  among  the  American  Indians.  The  whole  list 
includes  the  names  of  three  persons  who  rendered 
efficient  and  distinguished  services  to  the  cause  of 
foreign  missions  in  the  important  offices  they  held  under 
the  American  or  Presbyterian  Board.  It  also  properly 
came  within  the  scope  of  the  work  to  include  sketches  of 
all  of  the  Men  of  the  Haystack  and  of  all  of  the  first 
signers  of  the  constitution  of  the  first  Missionary  So- 
ciety that  was  formed  in  America,  although  some  mem- 
bers of  these  two  groups  did  not  themselves  become 
missionaries.  It  has  not  been  the  purpose  to  treat  of 
home  missions,  although  Williams  College  sustains  an 
important  relation  to  that  field  also. 

The  completion  of  100  years  since  Gordon  Hall  be- 
gan his  work  in  India  makes  the  present  a  fitting  time 
in  which  to  commemorate  the  lives  of  the  heroic  men 
who  have  done  so  much  to  introduce  Christian  civiliza- 
tion into  heathen  lands  and  have  given  to  Williams 
College  its  chief est  distinction.  It  is  hoped  that,  for  a 
further  perpetuation  of  their  memory,  a  bronze  tablet 
bearing  their  names  may  some  day  be  placed  in  one  of 
the  halls  of  the  College. 

The  movement  out  of  which  sprang  the  American 
Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions  was  one 
of  a  series  of  important  events  which  occurred  about 
the  end  of  the  eighteenth  and  beginning  of  the  nine- 
teenth century.  The  establishment  of  American  Inde- 

[yii] 


Preface 

pendence  seems  to  have  stimulated  the  thoughts  of  men 
and,  among  other  things,  awakened  a  desire  to  provide 
for  the  higher  education  of  youth.  At  this  period  came 
the  founding,  in  close  succession,  of  Williams,  Union, 
Bowdoin,  and  Middlebury  Colleges.  When  French 
scepticism  and  French  infidelity,  which  had  come  in 
with  the  Revolution,  pervaded  these,  and  other  older 
colleges,  there  occurred  what  Guizot  says  took  place  at 
the  Reformation  in  the  sixteenth  century,  "an  insurrec- 
tion of  the  human  mind."  In  answer  to  the  prayers  of 
pious  souls,  who  yearned  for  better  things,  there  came 
in  the  churches  and  colleges,  revivals  of  religion.  In 
these  religious  movements,  the  Men  of  the  Haystack 
were  at  the  same  time  subjects  and  agents.  Just  as  at 
the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century  at  Oxford  there 
rested  upon  John  and  Charles  Wesley  an  inspiration 
which  led  to  the  formation  of  a  new  sect  of  Christians 
now  numbered  by  millions,  so  at  the  beginning  of  the 
nineteenth  century  there  began  with  Mills  and  his  asso- 
ciates, a  movement  which  has  sent  missionaries  into 
every  part  of  the  world.  It  was  the  story  over  again  of 
"the  endowment  of  the  sense  of  personal  power."  The 
simple  faith  of  Mills  as  expressed  in  his  declaration, 
"We  can  do  it  if  we  will,"  was  the  grain  of  mustard  seed 
which  has  become  a  tree  putting  forth  branches.  In 
lands  where  the  early  missionaries  labored  for  years 
before  welcoming  a  convert,  the  American  Board  alone 
has  85,000  communicants,  615  missionaries,  20  colleges, 
and  15  theological  seminaries,  besides  numerous  indus- 
trial and  special  training  schools.  Such  are  some  of  the 
results  of  rendering  obedience  to  the  Lord's  great  com- 
mand. It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  obedience  to  this 
command  has  ever  called  for  not  only  strong  faith  and 
burning  zeal,  but  for  brave  hearts  and  lofty  heroism. 
These  certainly  have  been  the  marked  traits  of  the  mis- 
sionaries whose  biographies  are  given  in  this  volume.  It 


Preface 

was  written  in  praise  of  the  Pilgrims,  that,  after  that 
first  terrific  winter  in  which  nearly  half  their  number 
died  and  then  came  famine,  when  in  April  the  May- 
flower sailed  for  England,  not  one  Pilgrim  was  found  to 
go.  It  may  be  recorded  in  honor  of  these  missionaries 
that  in  no  instance  did  one  retire  from  his  field  of  labor 
but  with  reluctance,  and  then  for  the  most  imperative 
reasons.  Had  they  recorded  the  experience  of  their 
own  lives,  they  could  probably  have  adopted  the  words 
once  written  by  a  missionary  graduate  of  another  col- 
lege: "And  if  I  have  suffered  all  that  missionaries  do 
in  ordinary  missionary  work,  I  can  cheerfully  say  that  I 
have  suffered  far  less  than  I  anticipated,  and  enjoyed 
a  hundred  fold  more  than  I  expected.  Every  promise 
of  God  has  been  abundantly  fulfilled  to  me,  and  I  would 
not  to-day,  for  time  or  eternity,  change  situations  with 
my  most  gifted  classmates."  With  the  manifestation 
of  such  a  spirit  on  the  part  of  its  agents,  John  Foster 
might  well  style  the  missionary  enterprise  "THE  GLORY 
OF  THE  AGE." 

In  the  preparation  of  these  sketches,  it  has  been  the 
purpose  to  give  not  only  some  account  of  the  work  done 
by  each  person  in  the  mission  fields,  but  also  something 
of  his  ancestry  and  something  of  the  college  record. 
This  plan  has  called  for  a  large  amount  of  correspond- 
ence, as  well  as  for  the  consultation  of  much  printed 
material.  To  the  many  friends  who  have  so  patiently 
and  generously  responded  to  his  inquiries,  the  author 
would  here  express  his  grateful  acknowledgments. 
Mention  is  made  in  the  text  of  the  names  of  some  who 
have  written  letters  in  appreciation  of  their  missionary 
classmates.  Special  mention  may  be  made  here  of 
President  Franklin  Carter,  who  prepared  the  sketch  of 
Dr.  Mark  Hopkins. 

In  a  work  of  this  kind,  which  must  of  necessity  par- 
take more  or  less  of  the  nature  of  a  compilation  from 


Preface 

accessible  sources,  originality  could  hardly  be  expected. 
Three  or  four  of  the  sketches  might  be  regarded  as  little 
more  than  abridgments  of  biographies  that  were  already 
in  circulation.  The  author,  however,  is  confident  that 
not  only  by  the  consultation  of  original  sources  as  found 
in  books  and  unprinted  material,  but  by  correspondence 
with  the  living  missionaries  and  the  relatives  of  the  de- 
ceased, he  has  obtained  much  material  that  has  not 
hitherto  been  published. 

A  list  of  the  books  most  frequently  consulted  is 
given  at  the  end  of  the  volume. 

Having  to  deal  often  with  data  that  were  conflict- 
ing, the  author  hardly  expects  that  errors  will  not  be 
found  in  the  use  of  such  data;  if,  however,  as  has  been 
said,  the  chief  end  of  biography  is  to  embalm  virtue  and 
perpetuate  usefulness,  he  hopes  that  he  has  not  failed 
to  give  a  fairly  accurate  impression  of  the  lives  and 
characters  of  those  about  whom  he  has  written. 

It  may  be  stated  that  in  regard  to  the  spelling  of 
names  of  places  in  mission  lands,  in  respect  to  which 
there  is  still  great  variety  of  usage,  the  attempt  has 
been  made  to  follow  the  spelling  adopted  by  the  various 
Boards  of  Missions,  or  by  the  missionaries  themselves. 

The  author  would  here  mention  his  indebtedness  to 
the  editors  and  publishers  of  the  Missionary  Herald,  to 
the  Foreign  Missionary  Library  of  the  Presbyterian 
Board,  and  to  Fleming  H.  Revell  Company  for  per- 
mission to  use  certain  illustrations ;  and  to  the  officers  of 
the  American  Board  for  the  privilege  of  consulting  the 
records  of  the  Board.  Finally,  grateful  acknowledg- 
ments are  due  Jonathan  Warner,  Esq.,  of  the  class  of 
1889,  who  has  given  a  new  illustration  of  his  devotion  to 
the  college  by  his  generosity  in  making  possible  the 
publication  of  this  volume.  J.  H.  H. 

WlLLJAMSTOWN,   MASSACHUSETTS, 

November  24,  1914. 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

THE  HAYSTACK  MONUMENT Frontispiece 

FACING 
PAGE 

THE  ORDINATION  OF  THE  FIRST  AMERICAN  FOREIGN  MISSION- 
ARIES         ..........        12 

WHERE  GORDON  HALL  DIED 22 

BRONZE  TABLET  IN  THE  HUME  MEMORIAL  CHURCH,  BOMBAY       22 
WILLIAMS  COLLEGE — EAST  COLLEGE  AT  THE  RIGHT.     From  an 

Old  Print 28 

THREE  OF  THE  MEN  OF  THE  HAYSTACK: 

James    Richards,   Francis    LeBaron    Robbins,   Harvey 
Loomis         .........        56 

JONAS  KING  ..........       82 

MARK  HOPKINS      .          .          .          .          .          .          .  116 

EDWARD  DORR  GRIFFIN  .         .          .          .          .          .         .          .134 

JOSHUA  EDWARDS  FORD  ...          .          .          .          .          .          .162 

SIMEON  HOWARD  CALHOUN    .          .         .          .          .          .          .162 

JERRE  LORENZO  LYONS  ........     162 

PIONEERS  IN  MISSIONS  TO  THE  INDIANS: 

Samuel  Parker,,  Gushing  Eells,  Alfred  Wright     .          .198 

GREYLOCK 300 

REPRESENTATIVES  OF  COLLEGE  CLASSES  OF  THE  PERIOD  1825- 
1860: 

Henry    Albert     Schauffler,     William     Tracy,     Samuel 
Hutchings,    Charles    McEwen   Hyde,    Nathan  Brown, 
David  Coit  Scudder,  Arthur  Mitchell,  James  Herrick, 
Stephen  Clapp   Pixley          .          .          .          .          .          .848 

NEW  THEOLOGICAL  HALL — PASUMALAI  .....     400 

MISSIONARIES  NOW  LIVING  (1914)  WHOSE  TERMS  OF  SERVICE 
IN  EACH  CASE  EXCEED  FORTY  YEARS: 

George  Cook  Raynolds,  Alpheus  Newell  Andrus, 
Chauncey  Goodrich,  Henry  Thomas  Perry,  Charles 
Chapin  Tracy,  George  Thomas  Washburn  .  .  .  482 

THOMPSON  MEMORIAL  CHAPEL 534 

BOON-ITT  AND  BOON-!TT  MEMORIAL        .  610 


WILLIAMS   COLLEGE  AND 
FOREIGN  MISSIONS 


Missions  are  the  grandest  work  in  the  world,  and  the  mission- 
aries are  the  heroes  of  our  times. — ENDICOTT  PEABODY. 

Can  we  dream  of  anything  nobler  and  finer  than  this  divine  com- 
mission which  cur  Lord  gave  to  his  church?  Is  there  any  exploit 
of  chivalry,  any  glory  of  military  achievement,  any  attainment  of 
scholarship,  any  service  of  culture,  even  any  height  or  depth  of 
patriotic  or  humanitarian  sacrifice,  ivhich  can  compare  in  simple 
beauty,  grandeur,  and  worth  with  this  superb  ministry,  in  God's 
name,  and  at  Christ's  command,  to  the  soul  life  of  humanity? 

— JAMES   S.   DENNIS. 

Though  you  and  I  are  very  little  beings,  we  must  not  rest  satis- 
fied till  we  have  made  our  influence  extend  to  the  remotest  corner 
of  this  ruined  world. — SAMUEL  J.  MILLS. 

No,  I  must  not  settle  in  any  parish  in  Christendom.  Others  will 
be  left  whose  health  or  pre-engagements  require  them  to  stay  at 
homej  but  I  can  sleep  on  the  ground,  can  endure  hunger  and  hard- 
ships; God  calls  me  to  the  heathen;  woe  to  me,  if  I  preach  not  the 
gospel  to  the  heathen! — GORDON  HALL. 

We  may  not  claim  that  the  foreign  missionary  spirit  in  our  Amer- 
ican churches  had  its  first  development  here.  The  proof  is  ample 
that  it  had  not.  But  so  far  as  my  own  researches  have  gone,  the 
first  Personal  Consecrations  to  the  work  of  effecting  missions 
among  foreign  heathen  nations  were  here.  Here  the  Holy  Ghost 
made  the  first  visible  separation  of  men  in  this  country  for  the  for- 
eign work  whereto  he  had  called  them.  The  first  observable  rill  of 
the  stream  of  American  missionaries  which  has  gone  on  swelling 
until  now,  issued  just  on  this  spot. — RUFUS  ANDERSON. 


WILLIAMS    COLLEGE 

AND  FOREIGN  MISSIONS 


CLASS  OF  1806 

SAMUEL  PARKER,  the  fifth  child  of  his  parents,  was 
born  April  23,  1779,  in  Ashfield,  Massachusetts,  to 
which  place  the  parents  had  removed  from  Yarmouth 
in  1776.  He  was  sprung  from  Puritan  ancestors  who 
were  noted  for  their  piety.  The  father  was  a  farmer 
by  occupation,  and  in  Ashfield  tilled  what  was  described 
as  a  "rough,  rocky,  mountain  farm."  In  1798  the  son 
began  his  preparation  for  college  with  Rev.  Joseph 
Strong  (Yale  1749),  of  Williamsburg,  Massachusetts, 
but  owing  to  ill  health,  his  studies  were  interrupted  and 
were  not  resumed  till  1801  when,  in  his  twenty-second 
year,  he  began  study  with  Dr.  Smith  of  Ashfield,  with 
whom  he  continued  till  1803,  when  he  entered  college  as 
a  Sophomore.  In  college  he  was  a  member  of  the  Philo- 
technian  Society.  Among  his  college  mates  were  Gordon 
Hall,  Samuel  J.  Mills,  and  James  Richards.  He  evi- 
dently took  a  good  rank  as  a  scholar,  for  he  had  an  Ora- 
tion as  a  Commencement  appointment,  and  appeared 
twice  on  the  Commencement  program,  once  with  an  ora- 
tion the  subject  of  which  was:  "On  the  Inconsistency 
and  Folly  of  Scepticism,"  and  once  in  a  dialogue  on 
"Henry  VIII,  Sir  Thomas  More,  Etc.,"  the  other  par- 
ticipants being  Urban  Hitchcock,  Aaron  King,  and 
Abner  Phelps. 

After  graduation  he  taught  for  a  year  in  the  Acad- 
emy at  Brattleboro,  Vermont.  In  the  fall  of  1807,  he 
commenced  the  study  of  theology  with  Rev.  Dr.  The- 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

ophilus  Packard  (Dartmouth  1796),  of  Shelburne, 
Massachusetts,  and  in  the  following  year  (1808),  he 
was  licensed  to  preach  by  the  Northern  Association  of 
Hampshire  County,  since  known  as  the  Franklin  Asso- 
ciation. Soon  afterwards  he  accepted  an  application  to 
go  to  Steuben  County,  New  York,  and  Northern  Penn- 
sylvania, in  which  fields  he  spent  several  months.  He 
then  entered  the  Senior  class  at  Andover  Theological 
Seminary,  where  he  was  graduated  in  1810  with  the  first 
class  of  that  institution.  Among  his  classmates  in  the 
seminary  were  Adoniram  Judson  and  Samuel  Nott,  the 
missionaries,  and  Richard  S alter  Storrs  (Williams 
1807).  Immediately  after  graduating,  he  was  sent  by 
the  Massachusetts  Missionary  Society  to  Middle  and 
Southern  New  York,  laboring  first  from  Cherry  Valley 
to  near  Buffalo,  and  then  going  farther  south,  establish- 
ing in  his  tours  many  new  churches.  He  was  then  called 
as  pastor  to  Danby,  New  York,  where  he  was  ordained 
December  24,  1812,  the  ordination  services  being  held  in 
a  barn,  the  Rev.  Hezekiah  North  Woodruff  (Yale 
1784),  of  Aurora,  preaching  the  sermon.  At  the  close 
of  his  pastorate  in  Danby  in  1826,  he  became  financial 
agent  of  Auburn  Theological  Seminary  and  canvassed 
for  funds  in  New  England,  where  he  collected  several 
thousand  dollars.  From  1828  to  May,  1831,  he  is  said 
to  have  held  pastorates  in  Apulia  and  Fabius,  New 
York,  enjoying  in  the  former  place  a  great  revival. 
From  July  11,  1832,  to  May  23,  1833,  he  was  pastor  of 
the  Congregational  Church  in  Middlefield,  Massachu- 
setts. Leaving  this  place  on  account  of  the  ill  health  of 
his  wife,  he  removed  to  Ithaca,  New  York,  which  he 
henceforth  made  his  home. 

In  1835  began  a  period  of  service  which,  though 
brief,  was  most  important  and  connected  his  name  with 
the  work  of  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for 
Foreign  Missions.  In  that  year,  under  engagement  by 

[2] 


Biographical  Sketches 

the  Board,  he  started  on  an  exploring  tour  among  the 
Indian  tribes  near  and  beyond  the  Rocky  Mountains, 
the  object  of  the  tour  being  to  ascertain  as  definitely  as 
possible  the  number  and  situation  of  the  Indians  in  those 
regions  and  in  what  manner  the  gospel  could  be  most 
quickly  and  effectively  introduced  among  them.  He 
was  absent  on  this  tour  nearly  two  years,  returning  in 
the  spring  of  1837  by  the  way  of  the  Sandwich  Islands. 
On  his  return  he  published  an  account  of  his  journey 
in  a  volume  of  some  370  pages,  which  reached  a  third 
edition  and  which  is  still  entertaining  and  illuminating 
reading.  The  journey,  of  course,  was  full  of  hazard 
and  one  calling  for  great  endurance.  In  a  letter  to  a 
friend,  Mr.  Parker  wrote:  "I  crossed  the  continent  by 
land,  explored  various  parts  of  the  Oregon  country, 
from  the  head  waters  of  the  Columbia  River  to  the  Pa- 
cific Ocean.  I  lived  on  game,  having  no  bread  or  sub- 
stitute for  bread,  about  five  months ;  slept  on  the  ground 
about  seven  months ;  several  times  I  was  in  such  dangers 
that  I  did  not  expect  to  live  from  one  five  minutes  to 
another,  yet  I  was  not  conscious  at  any  time  of  having 
any  regret  for  having  engaged  in  the  enterprise.  I 
found  the  Indians  friendly,  and  anxious  to  learn  the 
way  to  be  saved." 

The  route  pursued  by  Mr.  Parker  is  given  as  follows 
in  the  Annual  Report  of  the  Board  for  1837:  "Proceed- 
ing up  the  Missouri  River,  from  Liberty,  a  frontier 
town  in  the  State  of  Missouri,  to  Council  Bluffs,  350 
miles;  from  Bellevue,  near  Council  Bluffs,  to  the  Black 
Hills,  720 ;  from  the  Black  Hills  to  the  Rendezvous  on 
Green  River,  a  branch  of  the  Colorado  which  empties 
into  the  Gulf  of  California,  360;  thence  to  Fort  Walla 
Walla  on  the  Columbia  River,  600 ;  thence  to  Fort  Van- 
couver, 200;  and  thence  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  100;  mak- 
ing the  whole  distance  from  the  western  boundary  of 
the  State  of  Missouri  to  the  Pacific,  on  the  route  trav- 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

elled  by  Mr.  Parker,  and  estimated  as  accurately  as  he 
was  able  by  the  common  rate  of  travelling,  to  be  2320 
miles."  Some  years  subsequent  to  this  journey,  Mr. 
Parker  claimed  that  he  was  the  first  person  who  ever 
mentioned  the  possibility  of  a  railroad  through  the 
Rocky  Mountains  to  the  Pacific.  Mr.  Parker  was  ac- 
companied in  his  journey  as  far  as  Green  River  by  Dr. 
Marcus  Whitman.  At  that  point,  after  conference  with 
the  Flat  Heads  and  Nez  Perces,  who  were  very  desir- 
ous to  receive  Christian  instruction,  it  was  decided  that 
Dr.  Whitman  should  return  and  procure  associates  pre- 
paratory to  entering  and  establishing  themselves  as  mis- 
sionaries in  that  field  the  coming  spring,  while  Mr. 
Parker  should  proceed  with  an  escort  of  Flat  Heads 
northwesterly  to  the  waters  of  the  Oregon.  The  rest 
of  the  journey  to  the  Pacific  was  accomplished  with 
safety  and  this  whole  tour  of  exploration  proved  most 
successful  and  satisfactory.  From  traders  and  per- 
sonal investigation  Mr.  Parker  was  enabled  to  locate 
many  tribes  of  Indians  and  to  give  a  fairly  accurate  es- 
timate of  their  numbers.  He  was  everywhere  received 
in  a  most  friendly  way  by  the  Indians  whom  he  met,  all 
of  whom  he  found  eagerly  desirous  of  being  taught  the 
way  to  salvation.  Through  an  interpreter  he  was  en- 
abled everywhere  to  instruct  them  in  many  of  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  Christian  religion,  and  it  was  related  at 
the  time  of  the  death  of  Mr.  Parker  that  the  Indians 
of  Oregon  and  Washington  still  observed  family  wor- 
ship and  the  Sabbath,  as  he  had  taught  them,  though 
for  thirty  years  they  had  been  without  teacher  or  pas- 
tor. Mr.  Parker  received  many  courtesies  from  the 
American  Fur  Company  and  the  Hudson's  Bay  Com- 
pany, in  whose  caravans  he  travelled  much  of  the  way 
over  the  mountains,  and  always  without  expense  to 
himself. 

Having  accomplished  the  object  of  his  mission,  on 

[4] 


Biographical  Sketches 

the  14th  of  April,  1836,  he  started  on  his  return  over- 
land to  the  United  States,  and  proceeded  eastward  as 
far  as  the  country  of  the  Nez  Perces;  but  not  finding 
there  any  company  with  whom  to  travel  through  the 
inhospitable  regions,  he  returned  to  Fort  Walla  Walla 
and  Vancouver.  Having  been  offered  by  the  Hudson's 
Bay  Company  a  gratuitous  passage  in  one  of  their 
ships  to  the  Sandwich  Islands,  he  left  Fort  George  on 
June  28  in  the  barque  Columbia,  reaching  Oahu  sixteen 
days  later.  Here  he  was  most  cordially  welcomed  by 
Rev.  Hiram  Bingham  and  the  other  missionaries,  as 
well  as  by  the  natives.  In  the  five  months  during  which 
he  had  to  remain  there  before  getting  passage  to  the 
States,  he  made  a  study  of  the  Islands  and  people,  and 
of  the  missionary  work  that  was  being  done  there.  On 
December  17  he  embarked  on  the  whaling  vessel  Phoe- 
nix, Captain  Allyn,  for  New  London,  which  they 
reached  after  a  voyage  of  five  months  on  May  18,  1837. 
On  May  23,  he  reached  his  home  in  Ithaca,  having  been 
gone  two  years  and  two  months,  and  accomplished  a 
journey  of  28,000  miles.  The  Report  of  the  Board  for 
that  year  concerning  this  mission  closes  with  these 
words  concerning  Mr.  Parker:  "Having  accomplished 
the  object  for  which  his  temporary  appointment  was 
made,  in  which  he  has  shown  a  persevering  devotedness 
to  his  work,  highly  commendable,  his  connection  with 
the  Board  has  ceased."  The  title  which  Mr.  Parker 
gave  to  the  volume  containing  his  report  shows  that 
while  studying  the  conditions  of  the  tribes  of  Indians, 
he  also  made  investigations  in  various  departments  of 
science,  in  each  of  which  he  writes  with  intelligence  and 
great  interest.  The  title  of  the  volume  is :  "Journal  of 
an  Exploring  Tour  beyond  the  Rocky  Mountains,  un- 
der the  direction  of  the  A.  B.  C.  F.  M.  in  the  years 
1835,  '36  and  '37,  containing  a  Description  of  the  Geog- 
raphy, Geology,  Climate,  Productions  of  the  Country, 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

and  the  Numbers,  Manners,  and  Customs  of  the  Na- 
tives; with  a  Map  of  Oregon  Territory." 

After  his  return  from  his  tour,  he  labored  in  behalf 
of  the  Bible  Society,  and  preached  in  various  places.  In 
December,  1847,  while  supplying  temporarily  the  pul- 
pit of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Volney,  New  York, 
he  was  stricken  with  paralysis.  After  that  he  did  but 
little  active  ministerial  duty,  though  he  supplied  various 
churches  temporarily.  He  died  at  Ithaca,  March  24, 
1866. 

Rev.  Calvin  Durfee,  D.D.,  wrote  of  him:  "He  was 
in  character  a  bold,  decided  man,  full  of  energy,  doing 
with  his  might  whatever  he  undertook.  He  was  devot- 
edly pious,  observing  the  strictest  duties  of  prayer 
and  Bible  reading  till  the  last.  His  great  work 
was  the  gathering  of  the  germs  of  churches  in 
Middle  and  Western  New  York.  He  has  often  said 
he  believed  he  was  the  means,  under  God,  of  estab- 
lishing, directly  or  indirectly,  over  one  hundred 
churches." 

Mr.  Parker  was  twice  married.  Soon  after  his  set- 
tlement, in  1812,  in  Danby,  he  was  married  to  Miss  H. 
Sears  of  Ashfield,  Massachusetts,  who  died  the  next 
spring  of  consumption.  In  1815  he  was  married  again 
to  Miss  Sarah  Lord,  of  Danby,  by  whom  he  had  three 
children,  of  whom  two  became  ministers,  viz.,  Rev. 
Samuel  Parker,  Jr.,  and  Rev.  Henry  W.  Parker,  who 
was  some  time  pastor  of  Bedford  Church,  Brooklyn, 
New  York. 

CLASS  OF  1808 

BYRAM  GREEN,  one  of  the  Men  of  the  Haystack, 
was  born  in  Windsor,  Berkshire  County,  Massachu- 
setts, April  15,  1786.  He  was  descended  from  ances- 
tors who  were  among  the  early  Plymouth  colonists,  one 
of  these  ancestors  being  Samuel  Green,  who  succeeded 

[6] 


Biographical  Sketches 

Stephen  Daye  in  the  first  printing  establishment  intro- 
duced into  the  Colonies. 

He  entered  college  as  a  Sophomore  in  1805,  having 
as  classmates  Gordon  Hall  and  Francis  Le  Baron  Rob- 
bins.  Harvey  Loomis,  Samuel  J.  Mills,  and  James 
Richards  were  members  of  the  class  below  him.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  Mills  Theological  Society  and  of 
the  Philologian  Society.  In  1806,  in  the  revival  which 
had  commenced  the  year  before,  Green  made  a  profes- 
sion of  religion.  He  attended  the  prayer  meeting  by 
the  haystack,  where  the  proposal  was  first  made  to  send 
missionaries  from  this  country  into  foreign  fields.  It 
was  Mr.  Green  who,  in  1854,  identified  the  spot  where 
the  haystack  stood,  the  precise  location  having  been  un- 
known by  any  one  in  Williamstown  for  more  than 
thirty  years.  Mr.  Green  subsequently  prepared  a  state- 
ment of  the  circumstances  attending  the  haystack 
prayer  meeting,  and  the  statement  was  published  in 
Durfee's  "History  of  Williams  College,"  from  which 
this  sketch  is  in  large  part  taken.  The  following  ex- 
tract is  from  that  statement:  "The  subject  of  conversa- 
tion under  the  stack,  before  and  during  the  shower, 
was  the  moral  darkness  of  Asia.  Mills  proposed  to 
send  the  gospel  to  that  dark  and  heathen  land;  and  said 
that  we  could  do  it  if  we  would.  We  were  all  agreed 
and  delighted  with  the  idea,  except  Loomis,  who  con- 
tended that  it  was  premature;  that  if  missionaries 
should  be  sent  to  Asia  they  would  be  murdered;  the 
Christian  armies  must  subdue  the  country  before  the 
gospel  could  be  sent  to  the  Turks  and  Arabs.  In  reply 
it  was  said  that  God  was  always  willing  to  have  his 
gospel  spread  throughout  the  world;  that  if  the  Chris- 
tian public  were  willing  and  active,  the  work  would  be 
done;  that  on  this  subject  the  Roman  adage  would 
be  true,  'Vox  populi,  vox  Dei.'  'Come,'  said  Mills,  'let 
us  make  it  a  subject  of  prayer,  under  the  haystack, 

L7] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

while  the  dark  clouds  are  going,  and  the  clear  sky  is 
coming.' ' 

At  the  Commencement,  which  then  came  in  Septem- 
ber, Mr.  Green  took  part  in  a  disputation  with  Ste- 
phen P.  Steele  on  the  question:  "Has  Ambition  been 
productive  of  more  Evil  than  Good?" 

After  graduation,  Mr.  Green  studied  theology  with 
Rev.  Dr.  Packard  of  Shelburne,  and  preached  for  a 
short  time,  but  by  reason  of  ill  health  he  was  compelled 
to  abandon  the  ministerial  life. 

In  May,  1811,  he  settled  in  Sodus,  New  York,  which 
was  then  quite  a  new  settlement.  During  the  first  sum- 
mer he  slept  on  straw  in  a  hollow  log.  By  perseverance 
and  industry  he  was  enabled  to  purchase  236  acres  of 
land,  much  of  which  he  cleared  and  fenced.  In  1817 
he  was  a  member  of  the  legislature,  where  he  was  the 
youngest  member.  He  was  elected  again  in  1818,  1819, 
and  1821,  and  during  the  last  term  he  was  Chairman  of 
the  committee  on  canals  and  internal  improvements. 
In  1822  he  became  State  Senator,  and  was  made  Chair- 
man of  the  committee  on  colleges,  academies,  and  com- 
mon schools.  He  also  introduced  and  carried  through 
the  legislature  some  important  bills.  For  a  few  years 
he  was  Judge  of  the  County  Courts,  and  for  eight  years 
was  collector  and  inspector  at  Pultneyville,  New  York. 
In  1843  he  was  elected  to  Congress.  While  in  Con- 
gress he  usually  voted  with  the  Democratic  party, 
though  he  voted  against  the  annexation  of  Texas,  and 
always  against  the  extension  of  slavery. 

Judge  Green  was  a  man  of  marked  honesty  and  be- 
nevolence, and  was  always  liberal  and  active  in  pro- 
moting the  interests  of  civil  and  religious  enterprises. 

GORDON  HALL,  the  first  of  Williams  College  gradu- 
ates to  go  as  a  missionary  into  a  foreign  field,  and  one 
of  the  band  first  ordained  for  such  service  by  the  Amer- 

[8] 


Biographical  Sketches 

lean  Board,  was  born  in  Tolland,  formerly  Granville, 
Massachusetts,  April  8,  1784.  He  was  the  son  of  Na- 
than and  Elizabeth  (Isham)  Hall,  who  were  natives  of 
Ellington,  Connecticut,  and  who  were  among  the  first 
settlers  of  Tolland.  His  grandparents  were  Thomas 
and  Sarah  (Clark)  Hall  and  James  and  Polly  (Kings- 
ley)  Isham,  all  except  the  first  named  being  of  Con- 
necticut birth.  The  family  derives  its  descent  from 
George  Hall,  who,  with  his  wife,  Mary,  came  from 
Devonshire,  England,  in  1636-7,  and  settled  in  Taun- 
ton,  Massachusetts,  being  one  of  the  founders  of  the 
town  and  also  of  the  Pilgrim  Congregational  Church. 

The  parents  of  Gordon  Hall,  who  are  spoken  of  as 
enterprising  and  industrious,  were  esteemed  in  the  com- 
munity for  their  correct  moral  habits.  The  father  was 
a  farmer  and  the  son  labored  on  the  farm  till  the  nine- 
teenth or  twentieth  year  of  his  age.  The  characteristics 
which  marked  Gordon  Hall  in  his  youth  were  wit,  vi- 
vacity, energy,  and  perseverance.  These  qualities, 
combined  with  a  love  of  amusement,  made  him  a  leader 
among  the  mates  of  these  early  years.  At  an  early  age 
he  showed  an  unusual  variety  of  genius.  Much  of  his 
leisure  time  he  spent  on  various  mechanical  con- 
trivances, constructing,  on  a  small  scale,  houses,  mills, 
and  water-wheels.  At  the  age  of  fourteen,  he  under- 
took the  construction  of  an  air  balloon,  from  a  descrip- 
tion which  he  had  come  upon  in  his  reading. 

In  his  early  years,  also,  he  showed  a  taste  for  reading 
and  composition.  Some  of  his  first  efforts  at  writing 
were  descriptions  of  local  celebrities  and  partook  some- 
what of  the  nature  of  satire  and  caricature.  Doubtless 
Tolland,  like  many  other  New  England  towns  of  that 
day,  had  many  eccentric  characters,  who  were  attractive 
subjects  for  humorists.  It  was  probably  about  the  nine- 
teenth year  of  his  age  when,  at  the  suggestion  of  his 
pastor,  the  Rev.  Roger  Harrison,  he  commenced  prep- 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

aration  for  college.  He  pursued  his  preparatory 
studies  with  Mr.  Harrison  and  was  admitted  to  Wil- 
liams College  in  February,  1805,  receiving  the  commen- 
dation of  President  Fitch,  who  remarked  concerning 
him,  "That  young  man  has  not  studied  the  languages 
like  a  parrot,  but  has  got  hold  of  their  very  radix."  He 
achieved  and  maintained,  throughout  his  course,  a  high 
standard  of  scholarship,  graduating  as  valedictorian  of 
his  class.  In  college  he  was  a  member  of  the  Mills 
Theological  Society,  and  also  of  the  Philotechnian  So- 
ciety, of  which  he  was  one  of  the  presidents.  Besides 
delivering  the  valedictory  address  at  the  Commence- 
ment, September  7,  1808,  he  took  part  with  four  class- 
mates in  a  dialogue  on  "False  Friendships,"  having  also 
on  the  preceding  evening  taken  part  in  a  dialogue  with 
five  others. 

Though,  before  entering  college,  he  had  been  care- 
fully instructed  in  the  principles  of  religion  by  a  pious 
mother,  he  did  not  make  a  profession  of  religion  till  the 
beginning  of  the  third  year  of  his  college  course.  It 
was  his  good  fortune  to  be  a  college  mate  and  most  in- 
timate friend  of  Samuel  J.  Mills,  who  was  a  member 
of  the  class  below  him.  It  was  in  a  revival,  in  promot- 
ing which  Mills  was  one  of  the  most  prominent  instru- 
ments, that  Hall  became  hopefully  pious.  It  was  Gor- 
don Hall  and  James  Richards  to  whom  Mills  first  made 
known  his  missionary  plans.  The  friendship  thus 
formed  between  Hall  and  Mills  became  stronger  and 
stronger  and  continued  most  intimate  through  life.  The 
condition  of  affairs  in  college  at  that  time  was  not  such 
as  to  encourage  active  piety.  Infidelity  and  irreligion 
along  with  the  prevailing  political  excitement  made  the 
life  of  the  Christian  student  no  easy  one  and  called  for 
a  robust  and  manly  spirit.  Hall  showed  himself  pos- 
sessed of  such  a  spirit.  Many  of  his  contemporaries  in 
Qollege  could  have  borne  witness  to  his  bold  and  manly 


Biographical  Sketches 

bearing  and  to  the  inflexible  fidelity  with  which  he 
maintained  his  ideals  of  a  Christian  and  a  scholar.  One 
of  these  college  mates  (Rev.  Dr.  Ezra  Fisk)  wrote  of 
him:  "As  a  Christian,  he  was  uniform,  consistent,  de- 
cided, and  influential.  He  took  a  leading  part  in  the 
religious  exercises  of  the  students,  in  the  Theological 
Society  and  prayer  meetings.  His  reputation  as  a 
scholar  was  very  decidedly  the  first  in  his  class,  and  suf- 
fered not  in  comparison  with  any  one  in  college." 

Probably  it  was  soon  after  his  conversion  that  his 
mind  was  first  directed  to  the  subject  of  missions.  At 
any  rate,  in  September,  1808,  was  formed  by  a  few 
students  a  society  whose  object  was  "to  effect  in  the 
persons  of  its  members  a  mission  or  missions  to  the 
heathen."  Some  account  of  this  society  may  be  found 
in  the  sketch  given  in  this  volume,  of  Samuel  J.  Mills, 
who  was  one  of  the  leading  originators  of  the  associa- 
tion. Though  the  name  of  Hall  does  not  appear  in 
the  list  of  the  original  signers  of  the  constitution,  there 
is  good  evidence  that  he  was  cognizant  of  what  was 
being  done  by  his  fellow  students  and  heartily  coop- 
erated with  them  in  their  plans. 

In  the  autumn  of  1808,  soon 'after  graduation,  Mr. 
Hall  commenced  the  study  of  theology  under  the  in- 
struction of  Rev.  Dr.  Ebenezer  Porter  (Dartmouth 
1792),  who  then  resided  in  Washington,  Connecticut, 
and  afterwards  became  a  professor  in  Andover  Theo- 
logical Seminary.  Dr.  Porter  subsequently  wrote  of 
him:  "The  development  of  his  powers  during  his  theo- 
logical investigations  satisfied  me  that,  in  intellectual 
strength  and  discrimination,  he  was  more  than  a  com- 
mon man.  Of  this,  however,  he  was  apparently  uncon- 
scious, being  simple  and  unpretending  in  his  manners." 

After  studying  about  a  year,  he  received  a  license  to 
preach  and  was  soon  invited  to  preach  as  a  candidate 
for  settlement  in  Woodbury,  Connecticut.  His  con- 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

sent  to  go  was  coupled  with  the  provision  that  his 
preaching  there  should  impose  on  him  no  obligation  to 
remain  as  their  pastor.  He  would  keep  himself  free, 
should  Providence  open  the  way,  to  preach  the  gospel 
to  the  heathen.  It  was  about  this  time  that  his  friend, 
Mills,  writing  from  New  Haven  to  a  friend,  declared 
that  Gordon  Hall  was  "ordained  and  stamped  a  mis- 
sionary by  the  sovereign  hand  of  God."  He  remained 
in  Woodbury  until  June,  1810,  having  occasionally 
preached  in  other  places,  among  them  Pittsfield, 
Massachusetts,  where  he  remained  two  months.  On 
leaving  Woodbury,  he  at  once  connected  himself  with 
the  Theological  Seminary  at  Andover,  where  his  com- 
panionship with  Mills,  Richards,  and  Rice  was  renewed, 
arid  where,  with  the  accession  to  this  circle  of  Adoniram 
Judson  and  other  kindred  spirits,  his  missionary  plans 
were  matured.  After  consulting  with  the  faculty  of 
the  Theological  Seminary,  it  was  determined  by  the 
young  men  interested  to  bring  the  subject  before  the 
General  Association  of  Massachusetts,  which  was  about 
to  convene  at  Bradford.  In  case  all  other  means  of 
reaching  the  heathen  failed,  Mr.  Hall  was  ready  to 
agree  to  work  his  passage  to  India.  A  paper  containing 
the  statement  of  their  views  and  wishes  was  presented  to 
the  Association  by  four  young  men, — Adoniram  Jud- 
son, Jr.,  Samuel  Nott,  Jr.,  Samuel  J.  Mills,  Jr.,  and 
Samuel  Newell, — and  was  reported  on  favorably.  Out 
of  those  proceedings  came  the  institution  of  the  "Amer- 
ican Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions." 
The  young  men,  whose  names  are  given  above,  were 
retained  under  the  care  of  the  Board  and  advised  to 
continue  their  studies  till  funds  should  be  obtained  with 
which  to  send  them  to  some  point  in  Asia.  For  their 
greater  usefulness  among  the  heathen,  Mr.  Hall  and 
Mr.  Newell,  under  the  auspices  of  the  Board,  repaired 
to  Philadelphia,  in  the  autumn  of  1811,  to  obtain  some 

[12] 


Biographical  Sketches 

knowledge  of  medicine,  Hall  having  previously  at- 
tended medical  lectures  in  Boston. 

On  February  6,  1812,  in  the  Tabernacle  Church,  Sa- 
lem, Massachusetts,  Mr.  Hall  was  ordained  as  a  mis- 
sionary with  colleagues,  Messrs.  Judson,  Newell,  Nott, 
and  Luther  Rice.  The  church  is  still  standing  where 
this  memorable  transaction  took  place,  and  one  can  still 
see  the  wooden  settee  where  the  candidates  sat  when 
the  ordaining  hands  were  laid  upon  their  heads.  Some 
of  the  most  prominent  divines  of  the  day  took  part  in 
the  services  of  ordination.  Dr.  Griffin  offered  the  in- 
troductory prayer,  Dr.  Woods  preached  the  sermon, 
Dr.  Morse  offered  the  consecrating  prayer,  Dr.  Spring 
gave  the  charge,  and  Dr.  Worcester  the  right  hand  of 
fellowship.  In  the  accompanying  illustration,  the  or- 
daining ministers  are,  from  left  to  right,  Rev.  Drs. 
Morse,  Griffin,  Spring,  Woods,  and  Worcester. 

After  a  short  visit  to  his  home  in  Tolland,  Mr.  Hall 
hastened  to  Philadelphia  to  enter  upon  his  voyage.  In 
accepting  this  mission,  he  had  to  experience  no  little 
self-renunciation.  Not  only,  as  we  may  infer  from  let- 
ters to  his  parents,  did  he  meet  with  opposition  from 
them,  but  the  people  in  Woodbury  pressed  their  invita- 
tion for  him  to  settle  with  them.  But  he  had  made  his 
decision  not  without  calm  and  prayerful  deliberation. 
His  reply  to  the  call  from  Woodbury  was  an  illustra- 
tion of  his  firmness  of  purpose.  With  "a  glistening  eye 
and  firm  accent"  (Professor  Porter  relates)  he  wrote: 
"No,  I  must  not  settle  in  any  parish  in  Christendom. 
Others  will  be  left  whose  health  or  preengagements  re- 
quire them  to  stay  at  home;  but  I  can  sleep  on  the 
ground,  can  endure  hunger  and  hardship;  God  calls 
me  to  the  heathen;  wo  to  me,  if  I  preach  not  the  gos- 
pel to  the  heathen!"  In  the  trials  and  difficulties  which 
lay  before  him  in  his  missionary  life  he  had  need  of  all 
his  firmness  of  purpose  and  indomitable  courage. 

[13] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

Sailing  from  Philadelphia  with  Nott  and  Rice  on 
the  24th  of  February,  1812,  he  arrived  at  Calcutta  on 
the  8th  of  August.  The  missionaries  were  most  cor- 
dially received  by  Christians  of  different  denomina- 
tions, but  met  with  prompt  and  rigorous  repulse  by  the 
British  East  Indian  Government.  It  would  require 
pages  to  give  even  a  brief  sketch  of  the  difficulties  and 
discouragements  which  they  thus  encountered  for 
nearly  three  years.  The  following  extract  from  Dur- 
fee's  "Biographical  Annals"  touches  briefly  upon  the 
leading  events  in  this  period  of  severe  trial:  "They  were 
ordered  away,  as  'unlicensed/  by  the  East  India  Com- 
pany. Remonstrances  were  in  vain.  The  door  seemed 
closed.  Having  sought  a  passport  by  which  they  could 
reach  Bombay,  it  was  granted,  then  revoked,  and  they 
were  ordered  to  England.  They  entreated  but  there 
was  no  relenting.  They  must  be  put  aboard  the  British 
fleet  and  sent  from  India.  But  by  a  wonderful  work- 
ing of  Providence,  the  police,  who  were  to  transfer 
them,  sought  elsewhere  than  on  the  very  ship  where 
they  had  permission  to  be,  and  they  sailed.  Shortly 
after,  at  a  port  where  they  touched,  they  saw  Calcutta 
newspapers,  giving  their  names  among  the  passengers 
taken  to  England  by  the  fleet  that  had  just  sailed. 

"Their  vessel,  the  Commerce,  reached  Bombay, 
February  11,  1813.  Here  again  was  long,  earnest, 
manly  Christian  pleading  that  they  might  remain  and 
preach  the  gospel  among  the  heathen.  War  having 
broken  out  between  the  United  States  and  Great  Brit- 
ain, they  could  not  be  harbored  in  a  British  province. 
Sir  Evan  Nepean,  Governor  of  Bombay,  was  Vice-Pres- 
ident  of  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society,  and  a 
friend  of  missions.  He  favored  Mr.  Hall  and  his  asso- 
ciates, but  was  subject  to  orders  from  the  Governor- 
General  in  Calcutta.  It  was  a  protracted,  painful 
struggle  for  our  missionaries;  but  Mr.  Hall's  motto 

[14] 


Biographical  Sketches 

was  like  Paul's — 'None  of  these  things  move  me.' 
And  faith  had  its  reward.  Stirring  appeals  were  made 
to  the  authorities.  Prayer  was  lifted.  Counsels  among 
the  directors  in  England  and  at  Calcutta,  and  in  Bom- 
bay, all  took  a  favorable  turn  (as  when  Michael  influ- 
enced the  counsels  of  Persia,  Daniel  X:  13)  and  our 
missionaries  had  their  hearts'  desire." 

The  communication  which  Messrs.  Hall  and  Nott 
as  a  last  resort,  addressed  to  Sir  Evan  Nepean  and 
which  bears  many  marks  of  the  style  of  Hall,  is  a  model 
of  vigorous  English  and  sound  reasoning,  and  shows 
what  Hall  might  have  been  had  he  chosen  law  or  diplo- 
macy for  his  vocation.  The  words  which  Sir  Evan 
Nepean  added  when  he  communicated  to  Mr.  Hall  the 
decision  of  the  Court  of  Directors  in  London,  must 
have  given  large  satisfaction  to  the  missionaries  for 
their  patient  waiting:  "I  can  now  assure  you,"  says  Sir 
Evan,  "that  you  have  my  entire  permission  to  remain 
here,  so  long  as  you  conduct  yourselves  in  a  manner 
agreeable  to  your  office.  I  shall  feel  no  difficulty  in 
allowing  you  to  go  to  any  part  of  this  presidency,  and 
I  heartily  wish  you  success  in  your  work." 

Thus  was  established  the  first  mission  of  the  Amer- 
ican Board.  It  is  not  easy  to  tell  what  the  effect  would 
have  been  on  the  home  churches  had  their  missionaries 
return  disheartened  and  defeated.  That  they  did  not 
so  return  must  be  ascribed  largely  to  the  heroic  faith 
and  indomitable  will  of  Gordon  Hall. 

The  years  during  which  they  remained  simply  un- 
der the  sufferance  of  the  British  Government  were  not 
wasted.  They  were  perpetually  obeying  the  apostolic 
injunction  and  did  the  work  of  evangelists.  They  had 
opportunities  of  usefulness  not  only  among  the  natives 
but  among  persons  of  prominence  in  the  British  army. 
They  opened  a  school,  and  of  course  gave  much  time 
to  acquiring  the  languages  of  the  country.  The  Mah- 

[15] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

ratta  language,  then  spoken  by  about  12,000,000  peo- 
ple, was  Mr.  Hall's  more  especial  study.  Though 
there  were  few  facilities  for  acquiring  this  language, 
yet  by  diligent  exertion  and  owing  to  his  scholarly 
habits,  Mr.  Hall  was  enabled  to  use  the  language  for 
religious  instruction  as  early  as  the  beginning  of  the 
year  1815,  within  two  years  after  his  arrival.  In  the 
course  of  this  year  he  translated  the  most  of  the  Gospel 
of  Matthew  and  prepared  a  "Harmony  of  the  Gospels" 
and  a  small  tract. 

He  now  had  before  him  a  short  decade  of  service. 
It  was  a  period,  however,  filled  with  unremitting  toil 
and  continued  trials,  but  yet  not  without  encouraging 
success.  When,  towards  the  end  of  this  year,  Mr.  Nott 
had  to  return  to  the  United  States  by  reason  of  ill 
health,  and  Messrs.  Hall  and  Newell  were  left  alone 
among  so  many  millions  of  heathen,  the  words  of 
Christ  must  have  often  come  to  them,  "  The  harvest 
truly  is  great,  but  the  laborers  are  few."  The  mission, 
however,  was  strengthened  in  the  following  year 
(1816),  by  the  transfer  from  Ceylon  to  Bombay  of 
Mr.  Bar  dwell,  who  had  a  knowledge  of  printing.  The 
purchase  of  a  press  and  types  enabled  them  to  put  into 
circulation  some  Mahratta  tracts  and  several  books  of 
the  New  Testament  which  had  been  translated.  On  De- 
cember 19  of  this  year  valuable  assistance  came  to  the 
mission  by  the  marriage  of  Mr.  Hall  to  Miss  Margaret 
Lewis,  an  English  lady  of  eminent  piety,  resident  in 
the  country,  who  understood  the  native  character  and 
had  a  good  knowledge  of  the  Hindustani  language. 

The  literary  work  done  by  Mr.  Hall  in  the  way  of 
translation,  important  as  it  was,  was  among  the  least 
exhausting  of  his  labors.  The  following  extracts  from 
his  diary  of  a  week  give  an  idea  of  the  variety  and  un- 
remitting nature  of  his  toil: 

"Nov.  19,  1815,  Lord's  Day.     In  the  morning  I 

[16] 


Biographical  Sketches 

spoke  in  four  different  places,  to  about  seventy  per- 
sons. In  one  of  the  places  where  I  had  not  been  be- 
fore, read  a  tract  and  addressed  about  twenty.  .  .  . 
At  Momadare,  a  place  celebrated  for  temples,  and  the 
resort  of  Hindu  worshippers,  I  held  a  long  discussion 
with  some  Brahmans  in  the  midst  of  sixty  or  seventy 
people. 

"Monday,  20.  I  have  spoken  in  six  different 
places,  and,  in  all,  to  more  than  one  hundred  persons 
to-day.  At  one  place  I  fell  in  with  some  Mussulmans. 

"Tuesday,  21.  To-day  I  have  spoken  in  several 
places,  to  about  one  hundred  persons.  Six  or  eight  of 
them  were  Jews. 

"Wednesday,  22.  Walked  out  as  usual  at  four 
o'clock  P.  M.  And  spoke  to  about  one  hundred  and 
twenty  people. 

"Thursday,  23.  To-day  have  spoken  in  five  or  six 
places  to  about  one  hundred  of  the  heathen.  .  .  . 
Rendered  medical  assistance  to  a  woman.  .  .  .  Many 
of  the  people  perish  miserably  for  want  of  medical  at- 
tendance. 

"Friday,  24.  To-day  have  spoken  in  several  places 
to  more  than  one  hundred  people, — From  eight  to  nine 
o'clock  in  the  evening  I  spent  in  the  house  of  a  heathen, 
where  I  read  and  explained  a  tract  to  a  small  company. 

"Saturday,  25.  This  day  addressed  about  seventy 
persons ;  and  in  the  course  of  the  past  week  have  spoken 
to  more  than  eight  hundred  persons.  Blessed  be  God 
for  the  privilege!" 

It  was  his  custom  to  spend  an  hour  or  more  in  the 
morning  in  teaching  the  heathen  wherever  he  might  find 
them,  in  temples,  markets,  and  other  places  of  resort. 
The  hours  from  9  A.  M.  to  3  P.  M.  were  usually  given 
to  study.  The  time  from  4  to  7  P.  M.  was  devoted  to 
visiting  schools  and  instructing  the  people.  In  a  let- 
ter written  about  this  time  to  a  friend  in  America,  he 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

says:  "I  can  now  speak  the  Mahratta  language  with 
considerable  ease,  and  daily  spend  about  three  hours  in 
preaching  Christ  to  heathen,  Jews,  Mohammedans,  and 
Papists.  I  enjoy  perfect  health,  and  am  able  to  labor 
hard  about  sixteen  hours  from  the  twenty- four."  Be- 
sides the  study  of  the  Mahratta  he  devoted  much  time 
also  to  the  Sanskrit  and  Hindustani.  In  addition  to 
the  work  of  preaching  and  instructing,  much  time  was 
devoted  to  translation  and  to  the  establishment  of  free 
schools,  which  became  an  important  auxiliary  to  his 
other  labors.  In  1817,  besides  a  Harmony  of  the  Gos- 
pels, there  had  been  translated  the  Evangelists,  the 
Acts  of  the  Apostles,  several  of  the  Epistles,  and  other 
select  portions  of  the  Scriptures.  In  1818  the  number 
of  the  schools  had  been  increased  to  eleven,  with  600 
regular  attendants.  The  increase  in  the  number  of 
schools  and  of  scholars  was  to  the  home  churches,  an 
omen  of  success  and  greatly  increased  the  annual  con- 
tributions to  the  Board.  In  1825  the  missionaries, 
speaking  of  their  condition  as  compared  with  what  it 
was  ten  years  before,  made  this  statement:  "There 
was  then  no  school  to  catechize,  no  schoolroom  in  which 
to  speak  of  salvation,  no  chapel  to  preach  in  from  morn- 
ing to  night,  no  portions  of  God's  Word  to  circulate, 
no  Christian  tracts  to  distribute.  There  are  thirty-five 
schoolrooms  to  be  used,  had  we  the  laborers,  as  so  many 
meeting-houses;  thirty-five  schools,  containing  2000 
children  calling  for  evangelical  instruction,  and  five 
times  as  many  districts  calling  for  additional  schools." 
But  teaching,  preaching,  translating  did  not  comprise 
all  the  means  of  Mr.  Hall's  influence.  In  these  first 
years  after  the  organization  of  the  American  Board, 
Mr.  HalFs  letters  to  friends  in  America  were  of  the 
greatest  importance  in  kindling  the  zeal  of  the  churches 
and  arousing  their  interest  in  the  subject  of  missions. 
He  wrote  to  professors  in  Andover  Seminary;  and  to 

[18] 


Biographical  Sketches 

the  Society  of  Inquiry  there,  of  which  he  had  been  one 
of  the  original  members,  he  addressed  two  lengthy  and 
urgent  letters,  calling  for  men  to  enter  the  mission  serv- 
ice. In  1821  he  wrote  for  general  circulation  an  elo- 
quent tract  which  he  entitled,  "An  Appeal  to  Protes- 
tant Churches  of  All  Denominations,  in  Behalf  of  the 
Heathen." 

In  1825  there  came  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hall  an  ex- 
perience which  is  not  uncommon  for  the  missionary,  but 
which  must  be  one  of  the  hardest  to  bear.  Their  two 
boys,  of  two  and  four  years  of  age  respectively,  were  in 
extremely  delicate  health,  and  two  children  had  already 
died.  It  was  the  advice  of  skilful  physicians,  as  well 
as  of  all  the  brethren  of  the  mission,  that  Mrs.  Hall 
should  embark  with  the  surviving  children  for  America. 
This  separation,  which  it  was  expected  would  be  for 
but  a  year  or  two,  was  ordered  in  the  providence  of  God 
to  be  final,  so  far  as  this  world  is  concerned.  The  an- 
swer given  by  Mr.  Hall  to  the  entreaties  of  his  wife 
that  he  should  accompany  her  were  characteristic  of  the 
man,  and  showed  the  spirit  of  the  soldier  of  the  cross: 
"Do  you  know  what  you  ask?"  was  his  reply.  "I  am 
in  good  health;  I  am  able  to  preach  Christ  to  the  per- 
ishing souls  around  me.  Do  you  think  I  should  leave 
my  Master's  work,  and  go  with  you  to  America?  Go, 
then,  with  our  sick  boys.  I  will  remain  and  pray  for 
you  all,  and  here  labor  in  our  Master's  cause;  and  let 
us  hope  God  will  bless  the  means  used  to  preserve  the 
lives  of  our  dear  children."  Though  the  voyage  was 
at  first  prosperous,  the  elder  child,  whose  health  had 
seemed  at  first  to  improve,  was  suddenly  taken  ill  and 
died  about  three  weeks  before  the  vessel  reached  her 
port.  But  the  father  was  mercifully  spared  in  this 
world  the  knowledge  of  his  bereavement. 

One  of  the  great  satisfactions  of  Mr.  Hall's  life 
came  to  him  this  year  when  there  was  formed  by  five 

[19] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

missionary  organizations  the  Bombay  Missionary  Un- 
ion. This  event  was  of  peculiar  interest  to  him  be- 
cause of  the  contrast  it  presented  to  the  tedious  trials 
through  which  he  passed  in  obtaining  the  privilege  to 
preach  the  gospel  to  the  heathen.  The  sermon,  from 
the  text  Romans  1: 16,  was  preached  by  Mr.  Hall  and 
was  printed  by  request  of  the  Union. 

As  has  already  been  intimated,  the  labors  of  Mr. 
Hall  were  drawing  to  a  close.  Near  the  beginning  of 
the  year  1826  he  wrote:  "  That  the  truth  of  God  is 
affecting  the  minds  of  this  people  to  a  considerable 
extent,  there  can  be  no  doubt.  I  trust  that  by  and  by 
righteousness  and  salvation  will  spring  up  amidst 
this  prevailing  sin  and  death.  I  never  felt  more  en- 
couragement and  satisfaction  in  my  work  than  at  pres- 
ent." A  few  weeks  later  he  wrote  and  had  printed  at 
Bombay,  in  the  form  of  a  circular,  a  letter  making  a 
fervent  appeal  on  behalf  of  the  heathen  and  designed 
to  be  sent  to  Christian  friends  and  acquaintances  in 
America.  This  message  came  to  this  country  at  the 
same  time  with  the  tidings  of  his  death,  and  so  may  fit- 
tingly be  regarded  as  his  dying  legacy  to  the  Christian 
community. 

In  accordance  with  a  habit  which  Dr.  Hall  had  of 
visiting  the  adjoining  continent  for  the  purpose  of 
preaching,  visiting  schools,  and  distributing  tracts,  he 
set  out  the  first  week  in  March  with  two  Christian  lads 
on  a  tour  to  Nasseek,  distant  more  than  100  miles  from 
Bombay.  He  arrived  there  to  find  the  cholera  raging, 
more  than  200  dying  on  the  day  of  his  arrival.  After 
remaining  there  three  or  four  days,  preaching  the  gos- 
pel, administering  medicine,  and  distributing  books,  he 
set  out  on  the  18th  on  his  return.  He  reached  Doorlee 
Dhapoor,  about  thirty  miles  on  the  way  homeward, 
about  ten  o'clock  at  night,  and  stopped  at  a  heathen 
temple  to  pass  the  night.  Calling  the  lads  next  morn- 

[20] 


Biographical  Sketches 

ing  about  four  o'clock,  while  he  was  getting  ready  to 
proceed  on  his  journey,  he  was  suddenly  seized  with 
the  cholera.  Soon  becoming  aware  that  he  could  not 
recover,  he  gave  directions  concerning  his  watch, 
clothes,  and  disposal  of  his  body,  and  exhorted  the 
natives  who  stood  around  him  to  repent  of  their  sins 
and  forsake  their  idols.  Praying  fervently  for  his  wife 
and  children,  for  his  missionary  brethren,  and  for  the 
heathen  around  him,  after  eight  hours  of  suffering  he 
repeated  three  times,  "Glory  to  Thee,  O  God!"  and 
quietly  passed  away.  This  was  March  20,  1826.  The 
lads  shrouded  him  in  his  blanket  and  laid  him,  without 
a  coffin,  in  the  grave  which,  with  some  difficulty,  they 
had  procured.  He  died  in  his  forty-second  year. 
"Thus,"  writes  Dr.  W.  E.  Strong,  "passed  from  earth 
that  superb  missionary,  Gordon  Hall,  pioneer  in  the 
first  mission  of  the  Board,  who  gave  tone  and  power  to 
its  undertaking,  not  alone  in  India,  but  on  every  field." 

The  spot  of  his  burial  is  marked  by  a  stone  monu- 
ment erected  by  the  mission  and  bearing  in  English 
and  Mahratta  the  name,  age,  and  office  of  this  beloved 
fellow  laborer.  His  grandchildren  have  more  recently 
placed  in  the  Hume  Memorial  Church,  Bombay,  a 
bronze  memorial  tablet. 

The  widow  of  Mr.  Hall  remained  in  the  United 
States  and  died  in  1868  in  Northampton,  Massachu- 
setts, at  the  home  of  the  only  son,  who  bore  the  name 
of  his  father,  and  who,  after  graduating  with  honor- 
able rank  from  Yale  College  in  1843,  became  a  minister 
of  distinction.  A  grandson  of  Gordon  Hall,  Rev. 
George  A.  Hall,  D.D.,  of  Brookline,  Massachusetts, 
is  to-day  rendering  valuable  service  to  the  American 
Board  as  a  member  of  the  Prudential  Committee. 

Of  the  published  writings  of  Mr.  Hall,  mention  has 
already  been  made,  except  a  sermon  which  he  preached 
in  Philadelphia  just  before  sailing  for  Calcutta,  on 

[21] 


Williams  College  and  Miss-ions 

"The  Duty  of  American  Christians  in  Relation  to  the 
Cause  of  Missions."  His  style  is  characterized  by 
great  clearness,  directness,  and  vigor;  and  his  thoughts, 
filled  with  life  and  power,  never  fail  to  suggest  that  his 
ruling  passion  was  for  the  salvation  of  souls.  He  was 
an  eloquent  preacher,  both  in  English  and  Mahratta. 
His  manner  of  preaching  is  described  as  calm,  delib- 
erate, convincing,  and  highly  devotional.  Of  the  mis- 
sionaries in  Western  India  he  was  the  most  celebrated 
among  the  Brahmans  in  discussion  and  in  the  pulpit. 

It  is  believed  that  no  portrait  of  Mr.  Hall  exists. 
His  biographer,  the  Rev.  Horatio  Bardwell,  D.D.,  who 
labored  with  him  in  the  foreign  field,  has  given  this  pen 
picture  of  the  man :  "In  person,  Mr.  Hall  was  of  about 
the  ordinary  height; — rather  slender,  and  of  a  sallow 
complexion.  He  stooped  slightly  as  he  walked,  and 
seemed  meditative,  though  his  movements  were  easy 
and  rapid.  His  most  noticeable  feature  was  his  dark, 
intelligent,  and  penetrating  eye, — a  truthful  index  of 
his  vigorous  and  determined  mind." 

Mr.  Hall  was  possessed  of  an  equable  nature,  in 
which  was  a  combination  of  good  qualities.  With 
great  mental  energy,  an  uncommon  sobriety  of  judg- 
ment, inflexible  decision  of  purpose,  and  fearless  cour- 
age, were  joined  fervent  piety  and  persevering  industry. 
The  great  Apostle  to  the  gentiles,  whom  he  resembled 
in  many  of  his  qualities,  was  his  model  and  study. 
While  he  was  equal  to  any  effort  or  sacrifice,  he  was, 
with  all  the  compelling  force  of  his  nature,  simple  and 
unostentatious. 

No  large  numbers  of  converted  heathen  gave  splen- 
dor to  his  life;  it  was  seven  years  before  he  welcomed 
his  first  convert.  The  importance  of  his  services  and 
the  character  of  the  man  are  revealed  in  the  fact  that 
amid  all  discouragements  he  held  his  post  where  he 
was  stationed,  thrice  by  his  resolute  purpose  saving  the 

[22] 


WHERE    GORDON    HALL   DIED 


HIS  WISE/'AND   PATIENT  CORRESPONDENCE 
A/ON   FROM   PARLIAMENT    THE    PERMISSION 
0  LABOR;  AM,  i  E   OF   INfjIA' 

TRANSLATOR  N       '.VANGtMST 

HIS   EFFORTS    WERE    MARKEDLY 
TED  FAITHFULNESS    AND   ZEALOUS   OLVOTi-J 
^TiL  HE  WAS  §TfclCKEN    WITH   CHOlfRA 
tN  OOORLEE  DHAPOOH  NEAR  MASStEK 
AND   P'ED   MARCH  20   1326 

r  ntD    PV    -I      OP  AN!)   CHItORfN 


BRONZE   TABLET  IN  THE   HUME   MEMORIAL   CHURCH,   BOMBAY 


Biographical  Sketches 

mission  from  failure.  When,  amid  all  his  discourage- 
ments, he  was  offered  a  large  salary  to  enter  the  service 
of  the  East  India  Company,  he  preferred  to  go  on  with 
the  work  which  he  had  come  to  India  to  perform,  and 
to  support  himself  and  family  by  the  practice  of  medi- 
cine. By  his  devotion  he  kindled  the  flame  of  mission- 
ary zeal  in  the  churches,  and  his  life  became  an  example 
to  thousands.  He  labored  and  others  entered  into  his 
labors.  It  was  not  a  forlorn  hope  which  he  led,  although 
Henry  Martyn  had  just  written,  "If  I  ever  see  a 
Hindu  converted  to  Jesus  Christ,  I  shall  see  something 
more  nearly  approaching  the  resurrection  of  a  dead 
body  than  anything  I  have  seen." 

Yet,  to-day,  just  at  the  completion  of  a  century 
since  Gordon  Hall  reached  his  field,  there  are  in  India 
3,000,000  of  Christians,  Protestant  and  Catholic,  18,- 
000  Protestant  missionaries,  5,000,000  students  in 
150,000  schools,  and  30,000  university  students.  And 
these  results  are  but  the  beginning  of  the  fulfilment  of 
the  glorious  vision  which  inspired  the  heart  and  faith 
of  this  pioneer  among  the  missionaries  of  Williams 
College. 

FRANCIS  LE  BARON  ROBBINS,  also  one  of  the  Men 
of  the  Haystack,  was  born  in  Norfolk,  Connecticut, 
December  30,  1787.  He  was  the  son  of  Rev.  Ammi 
Ruhamah  Robbins  (Yale  1760),  and  Elizabeth  (Le 
Baron)  Robbins,  and  grandson  of  Rev.  Philemon 
Robbins  (Harvard  1729),  and  Hannah  (Foote)  Rob- 
bins.  Philemon  Robbins  was  the  grandson  of  Nathan- 
iel Robbins,  who  came  from  Scotland  to  Massachusetts 
in  1670,  and  settled  at  Charlestown,  where  he  died  in 
1719  at  the  age  of  70.  The  social  distinction  of 
the  family  is  indicated  by  the  fact  that  the  name  of 
Ammi  R.  Robbins  stands  third  in  the  list  of  the  class 
of  1760  in  the  Yale  General  Catalogue.  The  wife  of 

[23] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

Ammi  R.  Robbins  was  also  of  distinguished  ancestry  in 
two  lines.  Her  mother's  maiden  name  was  Lydia 
Bradford,  great-granddaughter  of  Governor  William 
Bradford  of  the  Plymouth  Colony.  On  her  father's 
side  she  was  a  descendant  of  the  Huguenots,  being  the 
granddaughter  of  Dr.  Francis  Le  Baron,  who,  as  sur- 
geon on  board  a  French  privateer,  was  wrecked  in  Buz- 
zard's Bay,  and  being  thrown  thus  on  a  strange  shore 
settled  in  Plymouth.  Rev.  Dr.  I.  N.  Tarbox,  in  his 
Introduction  as  editor  of  the  Diary  of  Rev.  Thomas 
Robbins,  D.D.,  relates  as  follows  the  romantic  story 
of  the  French  surgeon:  "In  the  year  1694,  a  French 
privateer,  hovering  around  our  shores  to  capture  ves- 
sels loaded  with  grain,  was  wrecked  near  the  upper 
end  of  Buzzard's  Bay,  and  the  men  on  board  were  res- 
cued and  taken  off  as  prisoners  of  war.  This  was  in 
the  reign  of  William  III.  The  treaty  of  Ryswick 
brought  peace  in  1697.  The  surgeon  on  board  this 
French  privateer  was  Francis  Le  Baron.  In  the  trans- 
fer of  these  prisoners  from  the  head  of  Buzzard's  Bay 
to  Boston,  a  halt  was  made  at  Plymouth.  On  the  day 
of  their  arrival,  it  so  happened  that  a  woman  of  Plym- 
outh had  met  with  an  accident,  causing  a  compound 
fracture  of  one  of  her  limbs.  The  local  physicians  de- 
cided that  the  limb  must  be  amputated.  But  Dr.  Le 
Baron  asked  permission  to  examine  the  fracture,  and 
decided  that  he  could  save  the  limb,  which  he  did. 
This  led  to  a  petition  on  the  part  of  the  Selectmen  of 
Plymouth  to  the  public  authorities,  asking  that  Dr.  Le 
Baron  might  be  released,  to  become  a  physician  and 
surgeon  at  Plymouth.  The  request  was  granted.  He 
went  there  in  1694,  married  in  1695  Mary  Wilder,  a 
native  of  Hingham,  Massachusetts,  and  became  the 
father  of  three  sons,  James,  Lazarus,  and  Francis." 
Elizabeth  Le  Baron,  the  wife  of  Rev.  A.  R.  Robbins, 
was  the  daughter  of  Dr.  Lazarus  Le  Baron, 

[24] 


Biographical  Sketches 

Rev.  Ammi  R.  Robbins  settled  in  Norfolk,  Con- 
necticut, in  1761,  where  he  built  up  a  large  and  influen- 
tial church.  Dr.  Abel  McEwen  (Yale  1804),  who  was 
prepared  by  him  for  college,  said  of  him:  "It  would 
be  difficult  to  select  a  minister  in  Connecticut  who  has 
been  more  popular  with  the  people  of  his  charge,  or  who 
exercised  over  them  a  more  complete  or  useful  control." 
For  a  time  he  was  a  chaplain  in  the  Revolutionary 
Army,  and  from  1779  to  1783  he  relinquished  a  fifth 
part  of  his  salary  (70  pounds)  on  account  of  the  heavy 
pecuniary  drain  upon  his  people.  From  1794  to  1810 
he  was  a  trustee  of  this  college.  Besides  attending  to 
the  duties  of  the  pastorate,  he  usually  had  a  number  of 
young  men  in  his  family  preparing  for  college.  He  was 
the  father  of  thirteen  children.  One  of  the  sons, 
Thomas,  graduated  at  Yale  and  at  Williams  in  the 
same  year  (1796)  ;  another,  James  Watson,  graduated 
here  in  1802,  and  Francis  Le  Baron,  the  subject  of  this 
sketch,  in  1808.  His  youngest  daughter,  Sarah,  mar- 
ried Joseph  Battell,  who  received  an  honorary  degree 
from  Yale  in  1823.  Of  her  three  sons,  Joseph  and 
Philip  graduated  at  Middlebury  College  in  1823  and 
1826  respectively,  and  Robbins  at  Yale  in  1839. 
Three  of  her  daughters  married  ministers,  one  of  them 
being  Rev.  William  A.  Larned  (Yale  1826),  sometime 
professor  in  Yale,  and  a  fourth  daughter  married  Hon. 
James  Humphrey,  sometime  member  of  Congress.  It 
may  be  noted  here  in  passing  that  Harvey  Loomis  hav- 
ing married  a  sister  of  Joseph  Battell,  and  Rev.  Phile- 
mon Robbins  having  married  the  grandmother  of  Sam- 
uel J.  Mills,  Jr.,  three  of  the  Men  of  the  Haystack, 
viz.:  Loomis,  Mills,  and  Robbins,  became  related  by 
marriage.  Probably  all  three  of  these,  being  from 
Litchfield  County,  Connecticut,  had  been  influenced  by 
Rev.  A.  R.  Robbins  to  come  to  Williams. 

Francis  Le  Baron  Robbins  entered  college  as  a 

[25] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

Freshman  in  1804,  having  pursued  his  preparatory  stud- 
ies, presumably,  with  his  father.  He  became  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Mills  Theological  Society,  and  of  the  Philo- 
logian  Society,  of  which  latter  he  was  one  of  the  pres- 
idents. Among  his  classmates  were  Byram  Green  and 
Gordon  Hall,  while  Harvey  Loomis  and  Samuel  J. 
Mills  were  members  of  the  class  below  his.  He  was 
a  superior  student,  graduating  with  Phi  Beta  Kappa 
rank.  At  Commencement,  he  appeared  twice  on  the 
program,  once  taking  part  in  a  dialogue  with  five  class- 
mates, one  of  whom  was  Gordon  Hall,  and  once  giving 
an  oration  in  Greek,  the  subject  being  "On  Patriotism." 
His  brother,  the  Rev.  Thomas  Robbins  (Williams 
1796),  was  present  on  the  occasion  and  makes  the  fol- 
lowing record  in  his  Diary:  "My  brother,  Frank,  ap- 
peared very  well  in  a  Greek  Oration.  My  father  and 
brother  and  sister  Battell  here." 

After  graduation  Francis  L.  B.  Robbins  taught  for 
some  years  at  Westfield  Academy,  at  the  same  time 
studying  theology  under  the  tuition  of  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel 
Austin  of  Worcester,  and  Rev.  Dr.  Alvan  Hyde  of 
Lee,  Massachusetts.  On  September  30,  1813,  he  was 
licensed  by  the  Litchfield  North  Association.  The  fol- 
lowing winter  he  preached  at  the  north  end  of  Goshen, 
Connecticut,  and  subsequently  he  supplied  for  some 
time  at  Cornwall,  Connecticut.  He  also  engaged  in 
missionary  work  for  a  time  in  New  Hampshire,  and  per- 
haps in  Vermont.  On  April  24,  1816,  he  was  ordained 
as  pastor  of  the  church  in  Enfield>  Connecticut,  where 
he  remained  as  pastor  for  thirty-four  years,  till  the  time 
of  his  death,  April  6,  1850. 

The  fact  that  this  was  his  only  settlement  would 
indicate  that  his  ministry  was  highly  successful.  While 
his  sermons  were  not  of  the  highest  order,  he  enjoyed 
eminent  success  as  a  pastor,  and  the  church  and  society 
were  uniformly  prosperous  during  his  ministry.  At 

[26] 


Biographical  Sketches 

prayer  meetings  and  other  occasional  gatherings, 
whether  occasions  of  rejoicing  or  of  mourning,  his  serv- 
ices were  eminently  fitting.  When  called  upon,  as  he 
often  was,  to  act  as  chaplain  at  military  reviews,  or  be- 
fore legislative  or  judicial  bodies,  he  was  happy  in  ut- 
tering the  proper  word  at  the  proper  time  and  place. 
Striving  always  for  things  that  make  for  peace,  he  was 
successful  in  healing  divisions  and  reconciling  differ- 
ences. In  all  of  his  dealings  and  relations  he  exhibited 
a  marked  courtesy  of  manner,  never  giving  cause  of 
offence  to  any  one,  while  maintaining  a  due  self-respect. 
While  he  gained  and  always  maintained  the  love  of  his 
own  people,  he  always  enjoyed  the  confidence  and  es- 
teem of  those  who  were  not  of  the  household  of  faith. 
He  was  ever  the  consistent  Christian,  and  one  of  the 
most  striking  traits  of  his  character  was  courtesy. 

He  was  married  first,  June  11,  1818,  to  his  own 
cousin,  Mrs.  Priscilla  (Le  Baron)  Alden,  daughter  of 
William  and  Sarah  (Churchill)  Le  Baron,  and  widow 
of  Gideon  S.  Alden  of  Fairhaven,  Massachusetts. 
She  died  December  25,  1846,  aged  64  years.  He  mar- 
ried next,  January  1,  1848,  Miss  Hannah  S.  Cook,  a 
teacher  of  South  Danvers,  now  Peabody,  Massachu- 
setts, who  survived  him.  He  had  no  children. 

A  nephew,  Rev.  Francis  Le  Baron  Robbins,  D.D., 
and  a  grandnephew,  Francis  Le  Baron  Robbins,  Jr., 
were  graduated  here  in  1854  and  1906  respectively. 

CLASS  OF  1809 

EZRA  FISK,  son  of  Simeon  Fisk,  was  born  in  Shel- 
burne,  Massachusetts,  January  10,  1785.  He  was  a 
cousin  of  Rev.  Pliny  Fisk  (Middlebury  1814),  mis- 
sionary to  Palestine.  He  pursued  his  preparatory 
studies  with  Rev.  Theophilus  Packard,  D.D.  (Dart- 
mouth 1796),  who  was  settled  as  the  third  pastor  of  the 
First  Congregational  Church  in  Shelburne,  in  1799. 

[27] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

Fisk  entered  the  class  of  1809,  apparently  in  the  Jun- 
ior year,  having  among  his  classmates  Harvey  Loomis, 
Samuel  J.  Mills,  and  James  Richards.  He  became  a 
member  of  the  Philotechnian  Society  and  of  the  Mills 
Theological  Society.  But  that  which  was  perhaps  his 
chiefest  distinction  in  college  and  which  gives  him  a 
place  in  this  volume  was  the  fact  that  he  was  one  of  the 
five  signers  of  the  constitution  of  the  first  Foreign  Mis- 
sionary Society  organized  in  this  country.  The  other 
signers  were  his  classmates,  Mills  and  Richards,  and 
John  Seward  and  Luther  Rice  of  the  class  of  1810. 
This  society,  whose  object  was  to  effect  a  mission  to  the 
heathen  in  the  person  of  its  members,  was  organized 
two  years  after  the  haystack  prayer  meeting.  The 
meeting  for  the  organization  was  held  in  the  northwest 
lower  room  of  the  old  East  College.  The  name  of  the 
society,  "Brethren,"  was  suggested  by  Mills,  to 
whom,  as  founder,  had  been  given  the  honor  of  naming 
it.  He  also  attempted  the  first  draft  of  the  constitu- 
tion, but  the  result  not  being  satisfactory,  the  working 
out  of  the  details  was  left  to  Fisk  and  Richards.  At 
the  first  meeting  held  for  organization,  Mills  was  elected 
president,  and  Fisk  vice-president.  It  is  not  to  be 
pretended  that  Williams  College  was  the  only  place 
where  the  missionary  spirit  was  manifest  near  the  be- 
ginning of  the  nineteenth  century.  According  to  Dr. 
Fisk  the  principal  agent  in  awakening  a  mission- 
ary spirit  here  was  a  missionary  sermon  preached  by 
Dr.  Griffin,  in  Philadelphia,  in  1805,  and  shortly  after 
republished  by  the  pious  students  in  this  college.  Good 
men  in  Salem  and  Newburyport  in  1806, 1807,  and  1808 
were  also  making  efforts  to  establish  a  Theological 
Seminary  at  Andover,  with  which  project  the  mission- 
ary spirit  was  closely  identified.  But  notwithstanding 
these  facts,  the  words  of  Dr.  Rufus  Anderson  are  ac- 
cepted as  a  correct  statement:  "But  so  far  as  my  own 

[28] 


Biographical  Sketches 

researches  have  gone,"  writes  he,  "  the  first  personal 
consecrations  to  the  work  of  effecting  missions  among 
foreign  heathen  nations  were  here  [Williamstown], 
the  first  observable  rill  of  the  stream  of  American  Mis- 
sionaries, which  has  gone  on  swelling  until  now,  issued 
on  this  spot." 

Fisk  was  apparently  a  successful  student,  for  he 
had  the  appointment  of  an  Oration,  and  was  one  of  the 
speakers  at  Commencement,  the  subject  of  his  address 
being,  "On  the  Influence  of  the  Passions  over  Reason." 

His  theological  studies,  as  his  preparatory  studies, 
were  pursued  under  the  Rev.  Dr.  Packard.  He 
preached  as  a  licentiate  for  about  a  year,  and  was  or- 
dained as  an  evangelist  in  1810.  His  labors  as  an  evan- 
gelist were  performed  principally  among  the  numerous 
destitute  congregations  in  Georgia.  In  the  autumn  of 
1812,  though  debilitated  by  his  residence  and  labors  in 
the  South,  he  preached  as  a  missionary  for  some  months 
in  Philadelphia.  In  August,  1813,  he  was  ordained 
and  permanently  settled  in  the  ministry  at  Goshen, 
New  York,  where  he  remained  about  twenty  years,  and 
where  his  ministry  was  greatly  blessed.  In  the  autumn 
of  1832,  owing  to  an  affection  of  the  lungs,  he  was  com- 
pelled to  intermit  the  greater  part  of  his  ministerial 
labors,  and  for  the  same  cause  he  spent  the  following 
winter  in  Georgia.  During  his  absence,  he  was  ap- 
pointed Corresponding  Secretary  and  General  Agent 
of  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Assembly. 
This  appointment  he  declined  to  accept,  feeling  that  his 
health  would  not  enable  him  to  endure  the  labors  and 
exposures  of  the  position.  In  1833  he  declined  an  in- 
vitation to  accept  the  presidency  of  the  University  of 
Vermont,  and  about  the  same  time  he  was  elected  Pro- 
fessor of  Ecclesiastical  History  and  Church  Govern- 
ment in  the  Western  Theological  Seminary.  This  ap- 
pointment he  accepted,  but  was  not  permitted  to  en- 

[29] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

ter  upon  its  duties.  While  on  the  way  to  this  new  field 
of  labor,  he  reached  Philadelphia  on  Saturday,  Novem- 
ber 2,  1833.  On  the  evening  of  the  next  day,  the  Sab- 
bath, he  preached  his  last  sermon  in  the  lecture  room 
of  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church  in  that  city.  He 
died  in  Philadelphia,  December  5,  1833,  in  the  forty- 
ninth  year  of  his  age,  and  only  two  months  after  his  dis- 
missal from  the  church  in  Goshen.  A  memorial  ad- 
dress was  read  at  the  funeral  by  Rev.  Dr.  Ashbel  Green, 
and  was  afterwards  published  in  the  Christian  Advo- 
cate. His  remains  were  removed  by  a  committee  of 
his  former  charge  in  Goshen  from  Philadelphia  to  that 
place. 

Dr.  Fisk  was  Moderator  of  the  General  Assembly 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  1833,  and  was  for  a  long 
time  a  director  of  the  Princeton  Theological  Seminary, 
and  from  1823  to  his  death  in  1833  was  a  trustee  of 
Williams  College. 

He  received  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts  in  course 
from  his  Alma  Mater,  and  in  1817  from  Yale.  His 
doctorate  was  conferred  upon  him  by  Hamilton  Col- 
lege in  1825. 

Dr.  Fisk's  intellectual  powers,  which  were  superior, 
were  described  as  of  the  solid,  more  than  of  the  brilliant 
kind.  Possessed  of  a  mind  that  was  vigorous  and  pen- 
etrating, he  could  see  truth  with  a  quickness  and  depth 
that  were  uncommon.  Modesty  and  humility  were 
marked  features  of  his  character.  Combined  with  his 
integrity,  prudence,  and  firmness,  there  was  a  spirit  of 
conciliation  which  gave  him  a  wide  influence  over  men. 
That  his  scholarship  and  literary  attainments  were 
highly  respectable,  is  shown  by  the  prominent  positions 
he  was  invited  to  fill.  While  he  was  unusually  familiar 
with  Hebrew  and  New  Testament  Greek,  he  was  par- 
ticularly fond  of  science  and  philosophy.  He  was  an 
impressive  preacher,  and  while  his  preaching  was  pe- 

[30] 


Biographical  Sketches 

culiarly  doctrinal,  it  was  eminently  blessed.  During 
his  pastorate  at  Goshen,  there  were  added  to  the  church 
nearly  600  new  members. 

The  following  extract  is  from  an  obituary  notice 
of  Dr.  Fisk  published  in  a  paper  in  Goshen:  "For 
twenty  years  he  resided  in  the  midst  of  us  without  un- 
necessarily giving  offence  to  any,  and  departed  to  a 
new  sphere  of  usefulness,  accompanied  by  the  universal 
regret  of  the  church  and  community.  And  how  could 
it  be  otherwise?  To  a  dignity  and  nobleness  of  man- 
ner and  deportment  he  added  a  mildness  and  sweetness 
of  temper,  and  benignity  of  heart,  irresistibly  fasci- 
nating. In  imitation  of  his  heavenly  Master,  while  on 
earth,  'he  went  about  doing  good.'  His  sincerity  no 
one  ever  had  cause  to  doubt,  and  his  deep,  reverent 
piety  was  indelibly  impressed  on  his  life  and  conversa- 
tion. In  the  prime  of  life;  in  the  midst  of  honors  and 
usefulness;  in  the  full  enjoyment  of  the  confidence  of 
the  church,  to  which  he  was  zealously  attached,  he  has 
been  called  to  wrestle  with  the  last  great  enemy,  death." 

Dr.  Fisk  was  married  in  Georgia,  in  March,  1812, 
to  the  daughter  of  Rev.  Dr.  Francis  Cummins.  His 
wife  survived  him.  They  had  no  children. 

Dr.  Fisk  published  an  Oration  delivered  before  the 
Society  of  Alumni  of  Williams  College,  1825;  a  Lec- 
ture on  the  "Inability  of  Sinners,"  delivered  in  the 
Spruce  Street  Church,  Philadelphia,  1832;  besides  sev- 
eral sermons,  and  a  series  of  valuable  articles  on  Mental 
Science  in  the  Philadelphia  Christian  Advocate  for 
1832. 

HARVEY  LOOMIS,  son  of  Joseph  and  Rhoda  (Stark) 
Loomis,  and  grandson  of  Isaac  and  Sarah  (Gillett) 
Loomis,  was  born  in  Torringford,  Connecticut,  in  1786. 
The  name  of  Loomis  occurs  frequently  in  the  history 
of  Torrington.  The  immigrant  ancestor  of  the  family 

[81] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

seems  to  have  been  Joseph  Loomis,  who  was  born,  prob- 
ably, about  1590.  Before  coming  to  America  he  was 
a  woolen  draper  in  Braintree,  Essex  County,  Eng- 
land. He  sailed  from  London,  April  11,  1638,  in  the 
ship  Susan  and  Ellen,  arriving  in  Boston  July  17  of 
the  same  year.  He  went  to  Windsor,  Connecticut, 
probably  in  the  summer  or  autumn  of  1639,  and  is  gen- 
erally supposed  to  have  gone  in  company  with  Rev. 
Ephraim  Huit,  who  arrived  at  Windsor  August  17, 
1639.  The  Windsor  records  show  that  he  bought  land 
in  that  town  February  24,  1640.  The  father  of  Har- 
vey Loomis  was  a  farmer,  and  the  early  years  of  the 
son  were  passed  on  the  father's  farm.  On  account  of 
his  personal  interest  in  religion  he  was  early  possessed 
with  an  earnest  desire  to  become  a  preacher  of  the  gos- 
pel. After  a  brief  preparation  he  entered  Williams  as 
a  Sophomore,  and  took  a  good  rank  as  a  scholar.  Har- 
vey Loomis,  Orange  Lyman,  and  Samuel  J.  Mills, 
whose  names  stand  together  in  the  roll  of  the  class  of 
1809,  all  came  from  the  same  church  in  Torringford, 
the  church  of  which  Samuel  J.  Mills,  Sr.,  was  pastor. 
In  college  Loomis  was  a  member  of  the  Mills  Theo- 
logical Society,  and  also  of  the  Philologian  Society,  of 
which  he  was  for  a  time  president.  He  was  one  of  the 
speakers  at  Commencement,  the  subject  of  his  address 
being,  "On  the  Disadvantages  of  continuing  too  long 
on  the  Stage." 

After  graduation  he  studied  theology  partly  with 
Rev.  Samuel  J.  Mills,  Sr.  (Yale  1764),  of  his  native 
town,  and  partly  with  Rev.  Dr.  Ebenezer  Porter, 
(Dartmouth  1791),  of  Washington,  Connecticut,  aft- 
erwards Professor  of  Sacred  Rhetoric  at  Andover.  At 
the  haystack  meeting,  Loomis  felt  that  the  proposal  to 
send  the  gospel  to  Asia  was  premature,  and  expressed 
his  strong  preference  for  Home  Missions.  His  sub- 
sequent career  was  ordered  in  accordance  with  this  con- 

[82] 


Biographical  Sketches 

viction.  Being  licensed  to  preach  the  gospel  in  1811, 
he  went  as  a  home  missionary,  under  commission  of  the 
Maine  Missionary  Society,  to  Bangor,  Maine,  then  con- 
sidered a  very  important  field  of  labor  but  difficult  be- 
cause of  the  irreligion  and  wickedness  of  the  place. 
On  November  27  of  that  year  he  was  ordained  pastor 
of  a  church  which  had  been  organized  there  the  day  be- 
fore, and  which  consisted  of  four  members,  embracing 
all  the  male  professors  of  religion  of  the  town.  For  a 
year  the  services  were  held  in  an  unfinished  hall  over  a 
store,  but  in  1812  a  court-house  was  built,  in  which  Mr. 
Loomis  preached  until  1821,  when  the  first  meeting- 
house of  the  town  was  built. 

In  the  first  three  years  of  his  ministry  the  additions 
to  the  church  were  but  few;  but  after  that,  to  the  close 
of  his  ministry,  the  church  increased  constantly  in  num- 
bers, some  being  added  at  nearly  every  communion  sea- 
son. The  church  became  strong  and  influential,  rather, 
however,  because  it  embraced  nearly  all  the  prominent 
men  in  the  place,  than  because  of  its  numbers.  During 
his  pastorate  107  members  were  added  to  the  church 
by  profession  and  forty  by  letter. 

In  his  principles  and  habits  he  was  the  uncompro- 
mising Puritan,  but  in  all  his  intercourse  with  his  people 
he  was  ever  the  consistent  Christian  gentleman.  His 
public  services  were  limited  to  two  sermons  on  the  Sab- 
bath and  a  conference  meeting  on  Wednesday  evening. 
The  number  of  meetings  was  not  increased,  even  in 
times  of  special  religious  interest.  He  was  especially 
happy  and  successful  in  his  conduct  of  the  Wednesday 
conference.  It  was  his  desire  that  every  man  present, 
whether  a  professor  of  religion  or  not,  should  take  some 
part  in  the  conference.  Even  those  who  had  objection 
to  the  Christian  system  were  encouraged  to  present 
their  objections,  which  he  endeavored  to  answer  fairly. 
He  was  eminently  successful  in  his  ministrations, 

[.83] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

and  was  honored  by  the  love  and  reverence  of  his  pa- 
rishioners. Along  with  great  firmness  of  character  and 
unusual  moral  courage,  he  combined  rare  self-posses- 
sion and  unusual  tact.  In  the  History  of  Maine,  he  is 
described  as  "  an  able  minister  and  a  most  excellent 
man."  As  a  speaker  he  had  a  clear  voice  and  fluent 
utterance,  while  his  enunciation  was  remarkably  dis- 
tinct. He  is  described  as  having  the  advantage  of  a  fine 
person  and  natural  grace  of  manner,  being  rather  tall, 
of  commanding  form,  having  a  noble  countenance  and 
brilliant  eye. 

His  death,  which  occurred  on  the  morning  of  Jan- 
uary 2,  the  first  Sabbath  of  the  year  1825,  was  sudden 
and  almost  tragic.  It  was  an  inclement  day,  and  Mr. 
Loomis  walked  about  a  third  of  a  mile  to  the  church,  in 
the  face  of  a  severe  snowstorm.  Soon  after  reaching 
the  pulpit  he  was  seen  to  fall,  and  soon  expired.  In  his 
pocket  was  found  the  sermon  which  he  had  prepared  to 
preach  that  day,  the  text  being,  "This  year  thou  shalt 
die." 

In  1811  he  was  married  to  Miss  Anna  (Nancy)  Bat- 
tell,  of  Torringford.  She  was  the  daughter  of  William 
and  Sarah  (Buckingham)  Battell,  and  granddaughter 
of  John  and  Mehitabel  (Sherman)  Battell.  This 
Mehitabel  Sherman  was  a  sister  of  the  patriot,  Roger 
Sherman,  signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 
Mrs.  Loomis'  great-grandfather,  John  Battell,  came 
from  France  to  America  and  settled  at  Dedham,  Mas- 
sachusetts. Sally  Battell,  a  sister  of  Mrs.  Loomis,  mar- 
ried Rev.  Dr.  Abel  McEwen  (Yale  1804),  of  New 
London,  Connecticut.  Joseph  Battell,  who  married  a 
daughter  of  Rev.  Ammi  R.  Robbins  (Yale  1760),  and 
all  of  whose  nine  children  became  distinguished,  was  a 
brother  of  Mrs.  Loomis. 

Of  the  six  children  born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Loomis, 
four  died  when  young.  Of  the  two  sons  who  lived  to 

[84] 


Biographical  Sketches 

maturity,  one,  Harvey,  married  Martha  Maria  L'Hui- 
lier,  of  Geneva,  Switzerland,  where  he  died  August  14, 
1857. 

Mrs.  Loomis,  the  widow  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch, 
died  July  27,  1861,  aged  78  years. 

SAMUEL  JOHN  MILLS,  JR.,  fourth  son  and  seventh 
child  of  Rev.  Samuel  (John)  and  Esther  (Robbins) 
Mills,  and  grandson  of  John  and  Jane  (Lewis)  Mills, 
was  born  at  Torringford,  Connecticut,  April  21,  1783. 
The  middle  name,  John,  of  the  father,  does  not  appear 
on  the  family  record,  but  was  added  after  the  death  of 
an  older  brother  of  that  name. 

The  ancestry  is  a  distinguished  one,  and  is  traced 
to  Peter  Van  der  Water  Meulen  (or  Miihlen),  who 
was  born  in  Holland  in  1622,  and  who,  being  disinher- 
ited on  account  of  his  religious  views,  came  to  America, 
landing  in  Boston,  and  subsequently  making  his  home 
in  Windsor,  Connecticut.  It  was  while  he  lived  there 
that,  at  his  request,  his  name  was  changed  by  the  Co- 
lonial Legislature  to  Peter  Mills. 

The  family  was  distinguished  for  its  proclivity  to 
ministerial  life  and  for  the  number  of  its  members  who 
were  college  graduates.  The  father  of  Samuel  J.,  Jr., 
graduated  from  Yale  in  1764.  Three  greatuncles,  the 
Revs.  Jedidiah,  Gideon,  and  Ebenezer,  and  one  uncle, 
Edmund  Mills,  were  graduated  at  Yale  in  1722,  1737, 
1738,  and  1775,  respectively.  Two  sisters  of  his  father 
married  respectively  the  Rev.  Joel  Bordwell  and  Jere- 
miah Day,  both  of  Yale  1756.  After  the  death  by 
drowning  of  his  grandfather,  his  grandmother  (Jane 
Lewis,  of  Stratford)  married  in  1778  the  Rev.  Phile- 
mon Robbins  of  Branford,  who  was  graduated  at  Har- 
vard in  1733. 

Samuel  J.  Mills,  Sr.,  studied  theology  under  his 
brother-in-law,  Mr.  Bordwell,  the  pastor  in  Kent  (who 

[35] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

had  prepared  him  for  college),  and  was  licensed  to 
preach  by  the  Litchfield  South  Association  of  Minis- 
ters on  February  7,  1766.  On  June  28,  1769,  he  was 
ordained  as  pastor  in  the  new  parish  of  Torringford,  in 
his  native  county.  Here  was  done  his  life  work.  After 
an  unprecedentedly  long  pastorate,  of  unusual  power, 
he  died  in  Torringford  on  May  11,  1833,  at  the  age 
of  90. 

"Father  Mills,"  as  he  was  commonly  called  in  later 
life,  is  described  as  tall  and  well  proportioned,  full  of 
grace  and  dignity.  He  was  an  eminently  faithful  and 
laborious  pastor,  and  a  remarkably  strong  preacher. 

Sprague's  "Annals  of  the  American  Pulpit"  con- 
tains a  graphic  account  of  him,  prepared  by  Dr.  Abel 
McEwen.  A  sketch  of  him,  under  the  pseudonym 
of  "Father  Morris,"  is  also  given  by  Mrs.  Harriet 
Beecher  Stowe,  in  her  volume  called  "The  Mayflower." 

The  mother  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  a 
woman  of  most  amiable  qualities,  being  noted  for  sym- 
metry of  character,  a  marvellous  sweetness  of  spirit, 
excellency  of  judgment,  and  largeness  of  Christian  love 
and  sympathy  toward  all  men.  Intrusted  as  she  was 
with  the  principal  management  of  the  family,  she  is 
described  as  "  the  great  angel  of  comfort,  strength,  sup- 
port, guide,  and  help  to  her  husband  and  family."  She 
it  was  who  once  said  in  the  hearing  of  this  son,  ffl  have 
consecrated  this  chi'd  to  the  service  of  God  as  a 
missionary."  To  be  born  of  such  parents  and  to  pass 
one's  childhood  and  youth  in  such  a  home,  where  the 
most  faithful  instructions  as  to  intellectual  and  moral 
cultivation  were  constant  and  of  the  best  kind,  are  con- 
ditions which  go  far  in  accounting  for  the  remarkable 
life  we  are  considering.  Young  Mills  could  hardly 
have  been  insensible  to  the  influences  of  the  scenery, 
also,  that  surrounded  his  home,  from  which  the  view  ex- 
tends in  every  direction  to  the  distance  of  between  ten 

[36] 


Biographical  Sketches 

and  thirty  miles,  revealing  a  large  portion  of  the  inter- 
vening valleys  and  hills.  It  may  be  that  this  scenery 
had  something  to  do  with  fixing  upon  the  mind  of  the 
youth  that  enlarged  interest  which  he  afterwards  mani- 
fested for  the  salvation  and  well-being  of  the  whole 
world. 

The  religious  experience  of  this  youth  was  striking, 
though  not  altogether  unusual  or  peculiar  in  a  period 
when  the  prevailing  view  was  that  nothing  availed  to- 
ward salvation  without  the  experience  of  a  marvellous 
and  almost  miraculous  change  of  heart.  When  quite 
young  his  mind  exhibited  an  unusual  sensibility  to  the 
concerns  of  religion,  and  he  was  easily  and  sometimes 
deeply  affected  with  his  neglect  of  religious  opportuni- 
ties, and  his  ruined  condition  as  a  sinner.  These  feel- 
ings had  gradually  passed  away  when,  in  1798,  his  na- 
tive town  was  visited  by  one  of  those  "outpourings" 
which  were  formerly  regarded  as  a  necessary  phase  of 
the  life  of  the  church,  and  which  were  expected  to  recur 
with  more  or  less  regularity.  At  that  particular  time 
150  congregations  of  New  England  were  blessed  with 
revivals  of  religion. 

For  young  Mills,  then  fifteen  years  of  age,  and  of  a 
very  retired  and  incommunicative  disposition,  the  sea- 
son of  this  revival  was  the  beginning  of  a  period  of  dis- 
mal distress  which  lasted  for  more  than  two  years.  The 
bitterness  of  this  distress,  his  views  of  his  own  sinful- 
ness,  his  opposition  to  God,  the  apparent  discrimina- 
tions of  divine  favor  when  he  saw  companions  and  mem- 
bers of  his  own  home  rejoicing  in  hope  while  he  was  left 
in  "the  gall  of  bitterness  and  the  bond  of  iniquity," — 
these  things  so  moved  him  that  he  would  sometimes 
"break  out  in  expressions  of  unyielding  rebellion."  The 
question  with  him  was  not  whether  he  was  willing  "to 
bow  at  the  footstool  of  mercy,"  but  whether  there  was 
any  "footstool  of  mercy";  whether,  in  other  words,  the 

[37] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

mercy  of  God  included  him.    It  was  about  this  time  and 
with  some  apparent  mitigation  of  his  distress  that  he 
left  home  for  a  neighboring  town,  to  take  charge  of  a 
farm  that  had  been  bequeathed  to  him  by  his  maternal 
grandmother.    But  the  letters  of  this  period  show  that 
he  was  still  worried  with  apprehension  lest  he  should 
at  last  be  an  exile  from  God's  presence.    It  was  when, 
after  his  return  home,  he  could  find  no  assurances  that 
he  was  one  of  the  elect,  that  he  cried  out  to  his  mother: 
"O  that  I  had  never  been  born!    O  that  I  had  never 
been  born!    For  two  years  I  have  been  sorry  God  ever 
made  me."     This  scene,  which  occurred  when  he  was 
bidding  farewell  to  his  mother  on  setting  out  to  attend 
the    academy    in    Litchfield,  has    been    eloquently  de- 
scribed in  the  Memoir  by  Dr.  Gardiner  Spring,  who 
shows  us  the  mother  at  her  prayers  and  the  son,  even 
while  on  his  journey,  coming  into  the  liberty  of  the 
sons  of  God,  and  instead  of  cherishing  opposition  to  the 
divine    sovereignty,    exclaiming    "O    glorious    sover- 
eignty! O  glorious  sovereignty!"  With  a  great  price  he 
had  obtained  this  freedom  and  it  is  not  strange  he  should 
at  once  be  possessed  by  the  spirit  and  ambition  to  help 
a  ruined  world.    In  fact,  the  first  idea  the  father  had  of 
his  son's  change  of  mind  came  from  an  observation  he 
made  soon  after  his  return  from  Litchfield,  "that  he 
could  not  conceive  of  any  course  of  life  in  which  to  pass 
the  rest  of  his  days,  that  would  prove  so  pleasant,  as  to 
go  and  communicate  the  gospel  salvation  to  the  poor 
heathen." 

Here  was  manifested  the  influence  of  a  missionary 
mother  who  had  often  spoken  to  her  son  of  Brainerd 
and  Eliot  and  other  missionaries,  but  above  all,  here  in 
this  remote  field  of  Litchfield  County  was  shown  the 
spirit  of  God  coming  over  this  youth  as  in  an  earlier  age 
that  spirit  had  come  over  Elisha.  Having  arranged  his 
secular  affairs,  he  went  through  a  course  of  study  pre- 

[88] 


Biographical  Sketches 

paratory  to  college.  The  family,  as  we  have  seen,  had 
been  closely  affiliated  with  Yale,  but  now  there  had  re- 
cently been  established  a  new  college  in  the  county  just 
to  the  north  of  his  home,  and  he  chose  the  young  and 
small  college.  He  entered  Williams  in  the  spring  of 
1806,  and  on  the  first  Sabbath  of  June  following  he  con- 
nected himself  with  his  father's  church.  In  college  he 
was  a  member  of  the  Philotechnian  Society. 

As  a  scholar  he  had  a  respectable  standing,  but 
with  him  scholarship  was  a  means  to  an  end.  One 
who  apparently  knew  him  well  writes:  "We  must  not 
contemplate  him  as  a  student,  a  writer,  or  a  preacher, 
but  as  a  philanthropist,  wise  in  council,  active,  zealous, 
self-sacrificing,  and  devoted  to  good  works.  He  did 
not  claim  to  be  a  classical  scholar,  a  lucid  writer,  or  a 
popular  orator.  While  his  figure  was  manly,  his  ap- 
parel studiously  neat,  and  his  manner  rather  graceful, 
his  voice  was  not  clear,  nor  his  eye  brilliant,  nor  his 
language  fluent.  Unlike  his  father,  he  had  no  wit." 
The  noblest  record  of  his  college  life  is  to  be  read  in  his 
diary,  and  what  he  accomplished  during  his  under- 
graduate years  has  become  one  of  the  chiefest  distinc- 
tions of  the  Berkshire  college.  The  two  things  most 
prominent  in  his  daily  ejaculations  are  his  prayers  for 
a  revival  of  religion  in  the  college  and  his  yearnings  for 
the  conversion  of  the  world.  If  the  scenery  of  his 
native  town  helped  to  turn  his  thoughts  to  far-off  peo- 
ples, his  environment  at  Williamstown,  where  he  could 
look  across  intervening  valleys  upon  the  mountains  of 
three  states,  could  only  emphasize  the  thought  that  the 
field  is  the  world.  Very  opportunely  for  him  and  for 
the  college,  the  spring  of  1906,  when  he  entered,  was 
the  time  in  which,  succeeding  a  long  period  of  religious 
depression  and  spiritual  darkness,  there  were  signs  of 
spiritual  refreshing.  In  the  subsequent  revival  the 
chief  instrument  was  Mills,  of  whom  it  was  said  that 

[89] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

nothing  to  him  had  charms  so  powerful  as  the  glory  of 
his  Redeemer  and  the  salvation  of  men.  Not  a  few  of  his 
fellow  students  who  afterwards  became  ministers,  and 
some  who  were  sent  by  the  American  church  to  the 
savages  of  this  country  and  to  the  heathen  in  other 
lands,  remembered  his  instrumentality  in  their  conver- 
sion and  missionary  zeal.  One  of  the  subjects  of  this 
revival  was  Gordon  Hall,  of  the  Sophomore  class,  a 
man  who  was  superior  to  Mills  in  intellect  and  scarcely 
second  to  him  in  zeal,  and  who,  under  the  providence 
of  God,  was  permitted  a  much  longer  period  of  service 
than  was  Mills  in  foreign  mission  work.  It  was  on  a 
hot  and  sultry  afternoon  in  the  summer  of  1806,  in  this 
period  of  revival,  that  five  of  the  pious  young  men, 
who  had  been  accustomed  to  meet  in  a  secluded  grove, 
every  Saturday  afternoon,  for  prayer  and  conference, 
held  the  meeting  which  has  made  that  spot  holy  ground. 
Tradition  relates  that,  a  thunderstorm  coming  on, 
these  youth  retired  from  the  grove  to  the  shelter  of  a 
haystack  near  at  hand,  and  there  continued  in  conver- 
sation and  prayer.  To  that  meeting,  where  these  young 
men  took  counsel  one  of  another  and  sought  direction 
of  Him  who  said,  "Go  ye  into  all  the  world,  and  preach 
the  gospel,"  may  be  traced  the  institution  of  foreign 
missions  in  the  American  churches.  The  names  of 
these  five  students  as  they  are  cut  in  the  marble  monu- 
ment which  was  erected  in  1867  on  the  site  of  the  hay- 
stack are  as  follows : 

Samuel  J.  Mills 

James  Richards 

Francis  L.  Robbins 

Harvey  Loomis 

Byram  Green 

All  of  these  became  ministers  of  the  gospel,  the  first 
two  devoting  themselves  to  the  work  of  foreign  mis- 
sions, Robbins  and  Loomis  to  home  missions,  while 

[40] 


Biographical  Sketches 

Green,  whose  health  failed,  had  to  abandon  the  minis- 
try and  became  distinguished  in  political  life. 

Of  this  list  of  brilliant  names  that  of  Mills  not  only 
stands  first  on  the  monument  but  holds  the  first  and 
highest  place  in  the  thoughts  of  men  to-day.  Dr. 
Spring  in  the  Memoir  of  Mills  says  that  in  his  zeal 
and  exertions  as  a  Christian  philanthropist,  "it  is  no 
exaggeration  to  say,  he  stands  almost  without  a  paral- 
lel among  men  not  actuated  by  the  miraculous  agency 
of  the  Holy  Ghost."  In  the  revival  of  his  Freshman 
year,  to  which  reference  has  been  made,  Mills  was 
chiefly  instrumental  in  producing  the  blessed  work,  and 
the  succeeding  years  of  his  college  course  saw  no  abate- 
ment of  his  zeal  for  the  welfare  of  his  college  mates  and 
of  his  yearning  for  work  in  foreign  fields.  The  follow- 
ing is  from  the  diary  of  his  college  days:  "O  that  I 
might  be  aroused  from  this  careless  and  stupid  state, 
and  be  enabled  to  fill  up  life  well!  I  think  I  can  trust 
myself  in  the  hands  of  God,  and  all  that  is  dear  to  me ; 
but  I  long  to  have  the  time  arrive  when  the  gospel  shall 
be  preached  to  the  poor  Africans,  and  likewise  to  all 
nations/'  Few  will  refuse  to  acknowledge  that  Mills 
had  a  distinguished  agency  in  inaugurating  a  new  era 
in  the  history  of  missions  in  this  Western  world. 

For  some  reason  or  other  the  closing  years  of  the 
eighteenth  century  were  rich  in  the  establishment  of  in- 
stitutions designed  for  the  improvement  of  the  human 
race.  The  happy  termination  of  the  war  for  American 
Independence  may  have  helped  to  turn  the  thoughts  of 
men  to  brighter  hopes  for  the  future.  In  1792,  the  first 
modern  Missionary  Society  was  established  in  Eng- 
land by  Carey  and  others,  which  was  followed  in  1795 
by  the  institution  of  the  London  Missionary  Society. 

Aside  from  a  branch  society  of  the  Moravians  (es- 
tablished in  Boston,  1787)  for  work  among  the  Indians, 
the  honor  of  commencing  the  first  missionary  exertions 

[41] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

in  the  United  States  belongs  to  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  which,  as  early  as  1789,  passed  an  order  requir- 
ing their  churches  to  take  up  collections  for  a  missionary 
fund.  A  missionary  society  was  established  in  New 
York  in  1796,  in  Connecticut  in  1798,  in  Massachusetts 
in  1799,  in  New  Jersey  in  1801.  It  is  interesting  to  note 
that  Williams,  Bowdoin,  Union,  and  Middlebury  Col- 
leges were  founded  in  1793,  1794,  1795,  and  1800  re- 
spectively. Here  was  a  decade  rich  in  most  important 
events  in  the  history  of  the  evangelization  of  the  world. 
Before  the  end  of  another  decade  the  same  spirit  that 
had  moved  at  the  same  time  upon  men  on  both  sides  of 
the  ocean  to  establish  missionary  societies  and  colleges 
was  now  moving  simultaneously  upon  the  minds  of  dif- 
ferent young  men  in  Williams  College.  When  Mills 
first  unbosomed  himself  to  Gordon  Hall  and  James 
Richards,  and  afterwards  to  others,  much  to  his  surprise 
and  gratification  he  found  that  the  Spirit  of  God  had 
been  putting  into  their  hearts  the  same  thoughts  he  had 
cherished.  It  may  perhaps  be  considered  as  one  of  the 
fruits  of  the  revival  of  1806  that  in  the  spring  or  autumn 
of  1808  Mills,  Richards,  and  two  or  three  others  organ- 
ized a  society  whose  operation  and  existence  were  en- 
tirely unknown  to  the  rest  of  the  college.  The  historic 
room  where  this  society  was  formed  and  where  it,  with 
considerable  additions,  used  to  meet,  was  the  northwest 
corner  lower  room  of  East  College.  The  following  are 
two  of  the  articles  of  the  original  constitution: 

"The  object  of  this  Society  shall  be  to  effect  in  the 
persons  of  its  members,  a  mission  or  missions  to  the 
heathen." 

"No  person  shall  be  admitted  who  is  under  any  en- 
gagement of  any  kind,  which  shall  be  incompatible  with 
going  on  a  mission  te  the  heathen." 

Some  years  afterwards,  at  the  dedication  of  the  col- 
lege chapel,  President  Griffin,  in  speaking  of  this  so- 

[42] 


Biographical  Sketches 

ciety,  said:  "I  have  been  in  situations  to  know  that  from 
the  counsels  formed  in  that  sacred  conclave,  or  from  the 
mind  of  Mills  himself,  arose  the  American  Board  of 
Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions,  the  American  Bi- 
ble Society,  the  United  Foreign  Missionary  Society, 
and  the  African  School,  under  the  care  of  the  Synod  of 
New  York  and  New  Jersey;  besides  all  the  impetus 
given  to  domestic  missions,  to  the  Colonization  So- 
ciety, and  to  the  general  cause  of  benevolence  in  both 
hemispheres." 

It  seems  a  little  strange  that  the  constitution  and 
records  of  that  society  were  written  in  cipher.  The 
reasons  for  this  secrecy  are  given  in  a  letter  of  Rev. 
Ezra  Fisk,  D.D.,  who  was  one  of  the  original  members 
of  the  Society  in  Williams  College.  According  to  him, 
the  general  reasons  were  the  possibility  of  failure  in 
the  enterprise,  and  a  modesty  which  required  them  to 
conceal  their  association  lest  they  should  be  thought 
rashly  imprudent.  "Besides  this,"  Dr.  Fisk  continues, 
"Mills  always  desired  to  be  unseen  in  all  his  movements 
on  this  subject,  which,  I  am  well  persuaded,  arose  from 
his  unaffected  humility,  never  desirous  to  distinguish 
himself,  but  to  induce  others  to  go  forward." 

The  first  object  of  this  fraternity  was  so  to  influence 
the  public  mind  as  to  lead  to  the  formation  of  a  mis- 
sionary society.  When  one  reads  the  eloquent  sermons 
that  were  preached  at  the  annual  meetings  of  the 
Massachusetts  Missionary  Society,  one  might  think  the 
people  were  all  ready  for  such  a  movement  and  would 
not  have  deemed  extravagant  the  zeal  of  Mills  as  shown 
in  a  letter  to  Gordon  Hall,  "I  wish  I  were  able  to  break 
forth  as  to  numbers,  like  the  Irish  rebellion,  thirty 
thousand  strong." 

But  the  eloquent  zeal  of  those  missionary  sermons 
was  far  in  advance  of  the  public  sentiment,  and  Mills 
and  his  associates  had  to  employ  a  variety  of  agencies 

[48] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

to  carry  forward  their  benevolent  designs.  They  re- 
published  and  circulated  the  sermon  of  Dr.  Griffin 
preached  before  the  General  Assembly  and  one  by  Dr. 
Livingston  preached  before  the  New  York  Missionary 
Society;  they  wrote  to  distinguished  clergymen,  among 
whom  were  Drs.  Dana,  Griffin,  Morse,  and  Worcester. 
They  visited  and  conferred  with  these  men  and  labored 
among  their  people.  In  further  prosecution  of  their 
plans  one  of  their  number,  possibly  Edward  Warren, 
joined  Middlebury  College  in  order  to  introduce  a  sim- 
ilar society  there.  Attempts  that  were  unsuccessful 
were  made  at  Dartmouth  and  Union  Colleges,  and 
Mills  at  one  time  planned  to  transfer  his  relation  to 
Yale  College.  After  graduation  at  Williams  he  did 
spend  some  months  at  Yale,  ostensibly  to  study  the- 
ology, but  really  to  find  kindred  spirits  who  could  be 
encouraged  in  his  great  enterprise. 

In  1810  Mills  joined  the  Seminary  at  Andover, 
Gordon  Hall  following  soon  afterwards  and  James 
Richards — one  of  the  students  of  the  haystack — being 
there  before  them.  The  strongest  members  of  the 
"Brethren"  had  already  come  to  Andover  and  brought 
with  them  the  constitution  and  records  of  that  society. 
Richards  and  Robbins,  on  talking  with  other  students 
on  foreign  missions,  had  found  others  already  interested 
in  the  subject.  Among  these  were  Samuel  Nott,  Jr., 
graduate  of  Union  College,  Adoniram  Judson  of 
Brown,  and  Samuel  Newell  of  Harvard.  Guizot,  in  his 
"History  of  European  Civilization,"  remarks:  "To  say 
why  a  great  man  appears  on  the  stage  at  a  certain 
epoch,  or  what  of  his  own  individual  development  he 
imparts  to  the  world  at  large,  is  beyond  our  power;  it 
is  the  secret  of  Providence;  but  the  fact  is  still  certain." 
So  when  there  were  gathered  at  Andover  at  the 
same  time  these  choice  young  men  whose  thoughts  were 
turned  to  the  same  great  theme  we  had  a  "secret  of 

[44] 


Biographical  Sketches 

Providence."  The  mind  of  Judson  was  impressed  with 
this  thought  when,  under  date  of  July  13, 1830,  he  wrote 
to  Rice:  "I  have  ever  thought  that  the  providence  of 
God  was  conspicuously  manifested  in  bringing  us  all 
together,  from  different  and  distant  parts.  Some  of  us 
have  been  considering  the  subject  of  missions  for  a  long 
time,  and  some  but  recently.  Some,  and  indeed  the 
greater  part,  had  thought  chiefly  of  domestic  missions, 
and  efforts  among  the  neighboring  tribes  of  Indians, 
without  contemplating  abandonment  of  country  and  de- 
votement  for  life.  The  reading  and  reflection  of  others 
had  led  them  in  a  different  way ;  and  when  we  all  met  at 
the  same  seminary,  and  came  to  a  mutual  understanding 
on  the  ground  of  foreign  missions  and  missions  for  life, 
the  subject  assumed  in  our  minds  such  an  overwhelming 
importance  and  awful  solemnity,  as  bound  us  to  one 
another,  and  to  our  purpose  more  firmly  than  ever." 
In  the  seminary  as  in  college  Mills  was  ever  zeal- 
ously engaged  in  urging  upon  the  attention  of 
the  students  the  importance  of  missions.  It  is  not 
strange  that  his  fellow  students  considered  him  "an 
extraordinary  man."  A  letter  written  to  a  brother  by 
his  roommate,  Timothy  Woodbridge,  gives  us  a 
glimpse  of  Mills  in  his  first  year  at  Andover:  "I  had  no 
conception  when  I  first  met  him  of  his  being  such  a 
man  as  I  very  soon  found  him  to  be,  while  we  were 
roommates.  He  has  an  awkward  figure  and  ungainly 
manner  and  an  unelastic  and  croaking  sort  of  voice; 
but  he  has  a  great  heart  and  great  designs.  His  great 
thoughts  in  advance  of  his  age  are  not  like  the  dreams 
of  a  man  who  is  in  a  fools'  paradise,  but  they  are  judi- 
cious and  wise."  Yet,  in  spite  of  his  zeal  and  fitness 
for  leadership,  with  a  characteristic  modesty  he  never 
sought  for  primacy  in  his  special  efforts. 

After  the  arrival  of  Mills  the  secret  society  that  had 
been  formed  at  Williams  was  instituted  at  Andover. 

[45] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

Proceeding  with  the  greatest  caution  and  secrecy  in 
choosing  new  members,  the  Brethren  admitted  Judson, 
Newell,  and  Nott  only  after  the  closest  investigation. 
Only  those  were  admitted  as  members  who  pledged 
themselves  to  go  as  foreign  missionaries.  It  was  this 
society  of  the  "Brethren"  who,  feeling  the  need  of 
some  organization  for  disseminating  missionary  in- 
formation as  well  as  for  inspiration,  organized  at 
Andover,  January  8,  1811,  the  "Society  of  Inquiry 
on  the  Subject  of  Missions,"  which  is  still  in  exist- 
ence. But  while  the  members  of  the  Society  of  the 
Brethren  were  pledged  to  go  as  foreign  missionaries 
there  was  no  real  foreign  missionary  society  in 
America.  The  attempt  to  answer  the  question, 
"And  how  shall  they  preach,  except  they  be  sent?" 
led  to  the  formation  of  the  American  Board.  By 
the  advice  of  the  professors  of  the  seminary  and  of 
Drs.  Samuel  Worcester  and  Samuel  Spring,  the  young 
men  submitted  their  case  to  the  General  Association  of 
Massachusetts  which  met  at  Bradford,  June  27,  1810. 
The  paper  is  said  to  have  been  drawn  up  by  Judson 
and  was  signed  by  Judson,  Nott,  Mills,  and  Newell. 
The  petition,  asking  among  other  things  "whether  they 
may  expect  patronage  and  support  from  a  Missionary 
Society  in  this  country,"  was  referred  to  a  committee 
of  three,  who  reported  in  favor  of  the  institution  of  a 
"Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions,  'for 
the  purpose  of  devising  ways  and  means,  and  adopting 
and  prosecuting  measures'  for  promoting  the  spread 
of  the  Gospel  in  Heathen  lands."  So  were  realized  the 
vision  and  ambition  of  Mills.  "To  his  faith,  foresight, 
and  initiative,"  says  Rev.  Thomas  C.  Richards,  "more 
than  to  that  of  any  other  man,  was  this  organization 
due." 

It  was  not  till  February  6,  1812,  a  year  and  a  half 
after  the  organization  of  the  Board,  that  the  first  mis- 

[46] 


Biographical  Sketches 

sionaries,  five  in  number,  were  ordained.  They  were 
Hall,  Judson,  Newell,  Nott,  and  Rice.  This  important 
historic  event  has  been  memorialized  by  an  oil  painting 
which  now  hangs  in  the  Tabernacle  Church  in  Salem, 
Massachusetts,  where  the  ordination  took  place. 

It  is  a  question  most  natural  to  ask  and  one  that  has 
often  been  discussed,  why  Mills  was  not  chosen  one  of 
this  advance-guard  of  foreign  missionaries.  Undoubt- 
edly much  weight  must  be  given  to  the  characteristic 
modesty  of  the  man  in  giving  way  to  Gordon  Hall, 
whom  he  believed  to  be  better  fitted  than  himself  to  re- 
ceive this  high  honor.  But  a  more  probable  reason  is 
the  one  given  by  Dr.  Rufus  Anderson,  that  it  was  con- 
sidered that  Mills  would  be  of  greater  service  to  the 
cause  by  remaining  at  home  and  exciting  the  inter- 
est of  the  churches  in  the  cause  of  missions.  This 
reason  finds  strong  support  in  a  letter  written  by 
Hall  to  Mills  from  Bombay  in  1815,  and  also  in  the 
statement  of  one  of  the  Brethren  who  years  afterwards 
was  asked  the  question  why  Mills  did  not  go  with  the 
first  missionaries. 

But  if  Mills  was  at  first  hindered  from  going  to 
other  lands,  a  casual  event  under  the  providence  of  God 
brought  foreign  missionary  work  to  him  at  home.  This 
was  the  meeting  in  New  Haven  with  Henry  Obookiah, 
a  Hawaiian  youth.  This  led  eventually  to  the  estab- 
lishment at  Cornwall,  Connecticut,  of  a  school  for  the 
education  of  heathen  youth, — really  the  first  progenitor 
of  Hampton  Institute  and  Tuskegee.  The  school  was 
subsequently  discontinued,  but  in  1823  it  numbered 
thirty-six, — "three  Anglo-Saxons,  nine  Sandwich 
Islanders,  one  Malay,  one  Maori,  three  Chinese,  one 
Portuguese,  two  Greeks,  one  Jew,  and  fifteen  Amer- 
ican Indians  of  nine  different  tribes."  A  visit  to  that 
school  gave  to  Hiram  Bingham  a  new  impulse  to 
preach  the  gospel  to  the  islands  of  the  Pacific,  and  from 

[47] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

that  school  came  a  petition  to  the  American  Board  to 
send  out  missionaries  to  the  Sandwich  Islands.  It  was 
in  response  to  that  petition  and  in  answer  to  the  prayer 
of  the  Hawaiian  youth  that  two  ordained  missionaries 
and  fifteen  others  were  sent  by  the  Board  in  1819  to 
those  Islands.  It  was  at  one  time  the  purpose  of  Mills 
to  take  Obookiah  and  go  to  the  Islands  and  there  spend 
his  life. 

From  the  completion  of  his  theological  studies  at 
Andover  in  1812  to  the  death  of  Mills  was  a  period  of 
but  six  short  years,  yet  they  were  years  which,  for  him, 
were  crowded  with  important  events.  In  his  fiery  zeal 
for  missions,  for  him  the  field  was  the  world.  In  his 
talks  with  his  companions  his  plans  for  missions  took  in 
North  and  South  America,  as  well  as  Asia  and  Africa. 
With  Gordon  Hall  he  had  spoken  of  "cutting  a  path 
through  the  moral  wilderness  of  the  West  to  the  Paci- 
fic," and  when  urged,  as  he  often  was,  to  settle  in  some 
of  the  newer  portions  of  our  country,  he  wrote  to  a 
friend:  "I  tell  you,  at  once,  the  field  is  not  large  enough 
for  me.  I  intend,  God  willing,  the  little  influence  I  have 
shall  be  felt  in  every  State  in  the  Union."  In  the  earlier 
part  of  1812  Mills  and  John  F.  Schermerhorn,  on  the 
recommendation  of  Andover  Seminary,  were  commis- 
sioned as  missionaries  by  the  Connecticut  and  Massa- 
chusetts Missionary  Societies.  Starting  west  by  differ- 
ent routes  the  missionaries  met  at  Marietta,  Ohio,  and 
there,  at  the  meeting  of  the  Muskingum  Association, 
organized  the  first  of  the  many  Bible  societies  instituted 
in  their  tours.  From  Cincinnati  their  journey  lay  south 
to  New  Orleans,  from  which  place,  after  about  three 
weeks'  stay,  they  returned  north  through  Mississippi 
and  Georgia.  In  this  first  missionary  journey  of  Mills, 
which  lasted  slightly  more  than  a  year,  Mills,  accord- 
ing to  the  estimate  of  Mr.  Richards,  had  travelled 
nearly  3000  miles  and  traversed  nearly  every  state  and 

[48] 


Biographical  Sketches 

territory  in  the  Union,  meeting  numerous  dangers  and 
suffering  severe  privations.  "Swimming  his  horse 
across  the  creeks,  sleeping  on  the  deck  of  a  flatboat, 
tramping  through  nearly  impenetrable  cane-brakes  and 
swamps,  he  had  kept  steadfastly  on.  In  loghouse, 
schoolhouse,  and  statehouse,  in  rude  church,  or  no 
church  at  all,  he  had  preached  the  gospel."  Besides 
preaching,  distributing  Bibles  and  establishing  Bible 
societies,  Mills  and  Schermerhorn,  according  to  a  com- 
mission they  had  received,  made  painstaking  and  exten- 
sive inquiries  in  regard  to  the  Indian  tribes  residing 
west  of  the  Alleghany  Mountains. 

Refusing  various  calls  to  go  on  missions  to  other 
places,  in  1814  Mills,  with  one  companion,  Daniel 
Smith,  undertook  a  second  missionary  tour,  this  time 
to  go  as  far  west  as  St.  Louis,  and  thence  back  through 
Illinois  and  Indiana,  and  then  south  to  New  Orleans 
again.  Reaching  the  latter  place  just  after  the  battle 
of  New  Orleans,  he  found  unexpected  work  in  visiting 
British  prisoners  and  the  sick  and  wounded  of  both 
armies.  But  the  real  purpose  of  his  going  to  New  Or- 
leans, the  distribution  of  Bibles,  in  English  and  French, 
was  not  forgotten  and  his  efforts  were  cordially  wel- 
comed even  by  Roman  Catholics.  In  the  following  year 
Mills  and  Smith  returned  by  way  of  Charleston,  Balti- 
more, and  Philadelphia,  to  New  England.  In  the  con- 
cluding sentences  of  the  report  of  this  journey  they 
write:  "Surely  goodness  and  mercy  have  followed  us  all 
the  way,  on  a  journey  of  more  than  6000  miles,  and 
passing  through  a  great  variety  of  climates, — in  perils 
in  the  city,  in  perils  in  the  wilderness,  in  perils  on  the 
sea, — the  Lord  has  preserved  us." 

In  these  two  tours  Mills  and  his  associates  not  only 
preached  and  supplied  the  Bible  to  the  destitute,  but  or- 
ganized numerous  local  Bible  societies.  The  elaborate 
reports  of  these  journeys  which  were  published  resulted 

[49] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

in  the  formation  of  missionary  societies  and  in  the  send- 
ing out  of  men  to  preach  the  gospel  in  these  newer  por- 
tions of  the  country,  and  also  had  an  important  influ- 
ence in  political  affairs.  Not  without  deep  significance 
does  Mr.  Richards  attribute  to  Mills  the  title  of  "Home 
Missionary  Statesman."  Mills'  words  had  a  deeper 
meaning  than  he  thought  when,  in  declining  an  invita- 
tion to  settle  in  the  Western  Reserve,  he  wrote :  "I  in- 
tend, God  willing,  the  little  influence  I  have  shall  be  felt 
in  every  State  in  the  Union." 

After  his  ordination  in  June,  1815,  being  hindered 
from  going  on  a  mission  to  the  Indians  and  again  to 
South  America,  he  resided  the  next  two  years  chiefly 
in  the  Middle  States,  the  summer  of  1816  being  spent 
in  New  York  in  missionary  work.  During  these  years 
was  brought  about  a  plan  dear  to  his  heart,  namely, 
the  organization  of  "The  United  Foreign  Missionary 
Society,"  in  which  Mills  was  the  prime  mover. 

The  final  service  of  Mills'  short  life  was  the  gratifica- 
tion of  a  hope  he  had  expressed  in  his  college  days  when 
he  wrote  in  his  diary:  "I  long  to  have  the  time  arrive 
when  the  gospel  shall  be  preached  to  the  poor  Africans, 
and  likewise  to  all  nations."  In  his  trips  through  the 
South  Mills  had  studied  the  conditions  of  the  colored 
people,  had  been  deeply  impressed  with  the  needs  of 
"the  poor  African  brethren,"  and  had  been  impelled  by 
a  desire  to  meliorate  their  condition.  He  had  planned 
schemes  of  colonization  and  by  his  efforts  had 
brought  about  the  establishment  of  the  African 
School  at  Parsippany,  New  Jersey.  When,  in 
1817,  there  was  formed  "The  American  Society  for 
colonizing  the  free  people  of  color  in  the  United 
States,"  Mills  saw  his  opportunity.  He  not  only  sug- 
gested and,  by  request,  prepared  a  pamphlet  setting 
forth  to  the  public  the  purposes  of  the  Colonization 
Society,  but  he  volunteered  to  visit  Africa  as  the  agent 

[50] 


Biographical  Sketches 

of  the  Society  and  select  a  site  for  the  proposed  colony. 
Choosing  as  his  companion  Professor  Ebenezer 
Burgess,  of  the  University  of  Vermont,  he  set  sail  for 
England  November  16,  1817,  remarking  to  a  friend  as 
he  was  about  to  embark:  "This  is  the  most  important 
enterprise  in  which  I  have  ever  been  engaged."  After 
being  nearly  shipwrecked  by  a  furious  gale  in  the  Eng- 
lish Channel,  Mills  and  Burgess  after  some  delay 
reached  London,  where  they  were  most  cordially  wel- 
comed by  Wilberforce,  Lord  Bathurst,  the  Duke  of 
Gloucester,  and  many  other  philanthropists.  Leaving 
England  February  2,  1818,  they  came  to  anchor  in  the 
river  Gambia  on  March  13.  They  spent  five  weeks  of 
arduous  toil  under  a  tropical  sun,  visiting  the  mainland 
and  the  islands  of  the  coast  in  their  endeavor  to  find 
a  tract  suitable  for  a  colony.  Along  with  the  work  of 
exploring,  gathering  information,  and  "palavering" 
with  the  natives,  they  let  go  no  opportunity  to  preach 
the  gospel.  In  accordance  with  the  report  of  Mills  and 
Burgess  which  established  the  fact  that  territory  could 
be  procured  and  a  colony  established,  the  first  colony 
landed  at  Sherbro  in  April,  1822,  and  in  1847  Liberia 
became  an  independent  nation. 

On  May  22,  1818,  the  companions  took  passage  for 
London  in  the  brig  Success.  As  Mills  stood  on  the 
quarterdeck  taking  a  last  glance  at  "unhappy  Ethio- 
pia," he  indulged  thoughts  of  home  and  said  to  his  col- 
league: "We  may  now  be  thankful  to  God,  and  congrat- 
ulate each  other  that  the  labors  and  dangers  of  our  mis- 
sion are  past.  The  prospects  are  fair  that  we  shall  once 
more  return  to  our  dear  native  land,  and  see  the  faces 
of  our  beloved  parents  and  friends."  But  this  longing 
of  his  soul  was  not  to  be  satisfied.  Before  leaving  home 
the  health  of  Mills  had  been  slender,  he  being  troubled 
with  a  distressing  cough  and  bearing  evidences  of  con- 
sumption. About  two  weeks  after  sailing  from  Sierra 

[51] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

Leone  he  took  a  severe  cold  which  developed  alarming 
symptoms.  The  disease  worked  rapidly  at  the  last  and 
his  sufferings  were  increased  by  a  painful  and  almost 
incessant  hiccough.  On  the  afternoon  of  June  16, 
1818,  the  end  came,  when  without  a  groan  or  murmur 
he  entered  peacefully  into  rest.  That  night  as  the  sun 
was  going  down,  his  body  was  committed  to  the  sea. 
As  the  ashes  of  Wickliffe  were  thrown  into  a  brook, 
and  being  thus  conveyed  into  the  main  ocean,  became 
an  emblem  of  his  doctrine  which  is  now  dispersed  all 
the  world  over,  so  the  dust  of  Mills  rests  in  no  one  place 
on  land,  but  in  the  ocean  whose  waves  touch  all  those 
continents  in  which  he  took  interest. 

In  summing  up  the  more  marked  characteristics  of 
the  man,  one  is  struck,  first  of  all,  with  his  unbounded 
zeal.  He  possessed  in  a  remarkable  degree  what  the 
author  of  "Ecce  Homo"  called  the  "enthusiasm  of  hu- 
manity." With  him  the  field  was  the  world,  and  all 
nations  were  made  of  one  blood.  With  him  there  was 
no  antagonism  between  home  and  foreign  missions. 
He  had  early  planned  to  go  to  Asia;  in  his  missionary 
tours  in  this  country,  his  efforts  embraced  the  red  man 
and  the  black  man  as  well  as  the  whites;  his  acquaint- 
ance with  Obookiah  had  aroused  an  interest  in  the  isles 
of  the  sea;  his  last  service  was  rendered  in  the  continent 
of  Africa. 

Along  with  his  zeal  were  combined  tireless  energy 
and  a  courage  that  knew  no  fear.  Though  not  favored 
with  robust  health,  he  shrank  from  no  toil  and  from  no 
peril  when  the  service  of  God  called  him.  The  diary 
which  he  kept  during  his  tours  in  the  West  and  South 
of  this  land  reads  like  the  doings  of  the  apostolic  age. 
His  time  was  filled  to  the  full  with  plans  and  the  ex- 
ecution of  plans  for.  extending  God's  Kingdom.  He 
was  in  labors  abundant. 

This  native  zeal  and  energy  had  been  thoroughly 

[52] 


Biographical  Sketches 

sanctified  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  and  from  the  time  of 
his  conversion,  he  was  a  man  of  the  most  devoted  and 
unwavering  piety.  He  was  eminently  a  man  of  prayer. 
In  all  matters,  both  great  and  small,  in  times  of  doubt 
and  uncertainty,  his  resort  was  ever  the  throne  of  grace. 
After  the  death  of  the  son,  the  father,  in  remarking 
upon  the  wonderful  success  which  had  attended  all  the 
benevolent  plans  the  son  had  devised,  saw  in  this  fact 
"abundant  evidence  that  he  was  in  the  habit  of  commit- 
ting all  his  concerns  to  Providence,  and  seeking  God's 
aid  and  guidance  in  every  measure  he  pursued."  He 
might  have  made  the  motto  of  his  life  the  sentiment 
which  Eliot  wrote  at  the  close  of  his  Indian  Grammar: 
"Prayers  and  pains,  through  faith  in  Christ  Jesus,  will 
do  anything." 

While  he  thus  had  power  to  prevail  with  God,  and 
while  by  his  sanctified  native  energy  he  could  accom- 
plish great  things,  having  withal  a  rare  discrimination 
in  judging  the  character  of  men  and  selecting  his  agents 
to  help  carry  out  his  plans,  he  was  a  man  of  unfeigned 
humility  and  modesty.  He  was  really  the  first  volun- 
teer to  offer  himself  to  go  into  a  foreign  field,  and  in  the 
wonderful  missionary  movement  of  his  day  he  was  the 
Hamlet  of  the  drama,  yet  when  the  advance-guard  of 
missionaries  was  sent  out  and  he,  the  real  author  of  the 
whole  movement,  was  left  at  home,  there  was  no  ex- 
pression of  jealousy  or  even  of  disappointment.  If  by 
remaining  here  and  in  a  more  humble  way  firing  the 
zeal  of  the  home  churches,  he  could  advance  the  King- 
dom of  God,  he  was  content.  His  humility  was  partic- 
ularly manifest  in  his  estimate  of  his  own  ability  and 
character.  Mr.  Burgess,  who  was  his  companion  in  the 
mission  to  Africa,  and  to  whom,  more  than  to  any  other 
person,  he  revealed  his  inner  life,  has  described  an  inter- 
view when  Mills  gave  expression  to  his  feelings  of  deep 
self-abasement,  appearing  to  annihilate  himself,  as  if 

[53] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

overwhelmed  with  abasing  views  of  his  own  vileness. 
It  was  this  sense  of  unworthiness  and  a  disposition  in- 
clined towards  self-abasement  that  led  him  to  cry  out: 
"I  many  times  fear  that  I  shall  yet  be  dashed  in  pieces 
as  a  vessel  in  which  the  Master  has  no  pleasure." 

It  was  to  be  expected  that  a  person  of  such  humble- 
ness of  mind,  whose  controlling  passion  was  a  yearning 
for  the  conversion  of  the  heathen  world,  should  be  toler- 
ant of  various  forms  of  Christian  worship.  While  not 
failing  to  discriminate  between  essentials  and  non-es- 
sentials in  doctrines,  he  was  far  in  advance  of  his  age 
in  exemplifying  the  spirit  of  Christian  union.  The  min- 
isters of  various  Protestant  denominations  opened  their 
pulpits  to  him  as  to  a  Christian  minister,  and  when  he 
was  distributing  Bibles  in  New  Orleans  he  generally 
secured  the  cooperation  of  the  Roman  Catholic  clergy. 

The  following  characterization  of  Mr.  Mills  by  his 
college  mate,  Byram  Green,  is  taken  from  the  copy  of  a 
letter  now  preserved  in  the  Williams  College  Library: 
"Mr.  Mills  in  the  symmetry  of  his  form  was  finely  pro- 
portioned, a  little  more  than  medium  in  height,  with  a 
dark  skin,  with  black  eyes  and  hair.  He  was  courteous 
and  easy  in  his  manner, — he  did  not  possess  command- 
ing talents,  but  was  highly  esteemed  by  some  and  re- 
spected by  all  excepting  the  scoffers  who  were  mute  at 
that  day.  Professors  of  religion  had  too  much  influence 
at  Williamstown  and  college  to  be  laughed  at  if  they 
behaved  with  usual  decorum  and  civility.  The  influ- 
ence of  Mills  (so  far  as  I  can  judge)  grew  out  of  his 
perseverance,  his  zeal  and  honest  devotion  to  the  Re- 
deemer's Kingdom.  He  frequently  expressed  the  de- 
sire to  preach  the  gospel  to  the  heathen." 

Such  were  some  of  the  characteristics  of  the  man 
whose  career  brought  to  Williams  College  one  of  its 
chiefest  distinctions.  Without  his  aiming  at  it  or  per- 
haps caring  for  it,  he  achieved  for  himself  a  fame  that 

[54] 


Biographical  Sketches 

will  be  enduring.  On  the  missionary  monument  his 
name  stands  first  in  the  list  of  the  Men  of  the  Haystack. 
Every  year  on  Sunday  afternoon  of  Commencement 
week,  friends  of  missions  gather  around  that  monu- 
ment to  recall  the  days  of  Mills  and  his  associates,  and 
to  renew  their  zeal  for  missionary  service.  And  when 
this  monument  shall  have  crumbled  into  dust,  the  influ- 
ence of  those  men  will  be  felt  wherever  is  being  done 
the  work  of  the  American  Board,  whose  field  is  the 
world. 

President  Tucker  finds  the  explanation  of  the  lives 
of  Mills  and  his  associates  in  what  he  calls  "the  endow- 
ment of  the  sense  of  personal  power."  In  this  light, 
the  examples  of  those  lives  ought  to  be  a  perpetual 
source  of  inspiration  to  all  coming  generations  of  Wil- 
liams students.  The  friends  of  the  college  might  well 
make  their  own  the  words  spoken  by  Dr.  Hopkins  at 
the  Semi-centennial  of  the  college  in  1843:  "Wherever, 
therefore,  the  history  of  American  missions  shall  be 
known,  this  spot  and  this  college  must  be  looked  to 
with  interest;  and  we  do  not  think  that  it  was  the  de- 
sign of  God  that  the  moral  effects  of  the  association  con- 
nected with  it  should  be  lost.  Here  may  the  words 
of  Mills,  'Though  you  and  I  are  very  little  beings,  we 
must  not  rest  satisfied  until  our  influence  is  felt  to  the 
remotest  corner  of  this  ruined  world/  always  pervade 
the  moral  atmosphere.  We  would  echo  those  words. 
We  would  make  them  the  motto  of  those  who  come 
here." 

Of  the  more  complete  sketches  of  the  life  of  Mills 
which  have  been  published,  there  may  be  mentioned  here 
the  Memoirs  by  Gardiner  Spring,  D.D.,  New  York, 
1820,  of  which  an  English  edition  was  brought  out  in 
London,  the  same  year,  and  a  second  American  edition, 
edited  by  E.  C.  Bridgman  and  C.  W.  Allen  in  1829. 
The  most  recent  and  complete  work  is  entitled  "Samuel 

[55] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

J.  Mills,  Missionary  Pathfinder,  Pioneer  and  Pro- 
moter," by  Rev.  Thomas  C.  Richards  (Williams  1887). 
The  published  writings  of  Mills,  aside  from  letters 
and  diaries,  concern  the  two  missionary  journeys  made 
in  this  country,  and  are  as  follows:  "Report  to  the 
Society  for  propagating  the  Gospel  among  the  In- 
dians and  others  in  North  America;  Schermerhorn  and 
Mills"  (1813) ;  "Communications  relative  to  the  Prog- 
ress of  Bible  Societies  in  the  United  States,  addressed 
to  the  Philadelphia  Bible  Society"  (Philadelphia, 
1813) ;  "A  Correct  View  of  that  Part  of  the  United 
States  which  lies  West  of  the  Alleghany  Mountains, 
with  respect  to  Religion  and  Morals"  (Hartford, 
1814) ;  "Report  of  a  Missionary  Tour  through  that 
Part  of  the  United  States  which  lies  West  of  the  Alle- 
ghany Mountains,  performed  under  the  Direction  of 
the  Massachusetts  Missionary  Society,  by  Samuel  J. 
Mills  and  Daniel  Smith"  (Andover,  1815). 

JAMES  RICHARDS,  JR.,  the  only  one  of  the  so-called 
"Men  of  the  Haystack"  who  became  an  ordained  mis- 
sionary for  a  foreign  field,  was  born  at  Abington,  Mas- 
sachusetts. February  23,  1784.  He  was  the  son  of 
James  and  Lydia  (Shaw)  Richards,  and  the  grandson 
of  Joseph  and  Sarah  (Whitmarsh)  Richards,  and  of 
Captain  Ebenezer  and  Ann  (Molson)  Shaw.  The 
family  is  descended  from  William  Richards,  who  came 
from  Wales  probably  to  Plymouth  before  1633,  and 
ultimately  settled  in  Weymouth,  Massachusetts. 

James  Richards  was  one  of  ten  children,  and  be- 
longed to  a  family  of  superior  mental  qualities.  The 
father,  born  May  31,  1757,  was  a  farmer  by  occupa- 
tion, one  of  the  earliest  settlers  in  the  town  of  Plain- 
field,  Massachusetts,  and  saw  service  in  the  Revolution- 
ary Army.  He  is  spoken  of  as  an  educated  man  of 
versatile  talents,  and  throughout  his  active  life  he  was 

[56] 


James  Richards 

Francis  Le  Baron  Robbins  Harvey  Loomis 

THREE    OF    THE    MEN    OF    THE    HAYSTACK 


Biographical  Sketches 

prominent  in  church  and  town  affairs.  He  was  one  of 
the  first  two  deacons  of  the  Congregational  Church 
chosen  November  15,  1792.  He  taught  school  winters 
for  many  years,  and  being  a  fine  singer,  he  taught  sing- 
ing in  Plainfield  and  neighboring  towns.  He  was 
Selectman  for  twenty-one  years,  and  besides  being 
Town  Clerk  and  Justice  of  the  Peace  for  some  time  he 
quite  often  represented  the  district  and  township  in 
the  General  Court.  His  wife,  Lydia  Shaw,  of  Abing- 
ton,  whom  he  married  May  1,  1780,  is  spoken  of  as  a 
most  excellent  woman.  Besides  James,  Jr.,  the  sub- 
ject of  our  sketch,  two  other  sons  were  college  grad- 
uates, viz.:  William,  who  was  graduated  at  Williams 
in  1819  and  became  a  missionary  to  the  Sandwich 
Islands,  and  Austin,  who  was  graduated  at  Amherst 
in  1824  and  became  a  minister.  Two  of  his  grandsons 
also  received  a  college  education.  In  the  early  youth 
of  James,  the  parents  removed  to  Plainfield.  They 
were  not  in  affluent  circumstances,  but  were  rich  in  faith 
and  gave  their  children  the  best  of  pious  instruction. 
At  the  age  of  thirteen,  in  a  time  of  special  religious  in- 
terest, James  became  hopefully  pious,  though  his  ad- 
mission to  the  church  was  deferred  for  six  years.  He 
early  cherished  an  ardent  desire  to  become  a  minister 
of  the  gospel,  but  the  needs  of  the  family  kept  him  on 
the  farm  till  he  was  nearly  twenty  years  of  age,  when 
he  commenced  his  preparation  for  college  under  the 
tuition  of  his  pastor,  the  Rev.  Moses  Hallock.  Possi- 
bly the  educational  advantages  afforded  in  Plainfield 
were  one  object  the  parents  had  in  removing  to  that 
town.  In  those  early  days,  when  preparatory  schools 
and  theological  seminaries  were  few,  pastors  not  only 
frequently  fitted  youths  for  college,  but  often  trained 
young  men  for  the  ministry.  Of  such  ministerial  teach- 
ers, Mr.  Hallock  became  greatly  distinguished.  Soon 
after  his  settlement  in  Plainfield,  in  1792,  his  salary 

[57] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

being  inadequate  to  meet  his  necessary  expenses,  he 
began  to  receive  students  into  his  family,  and  contin- 
ued the  work  of  preaching  and  teaching  for  more  than 
thirty  years.  In  many  instances  instruction  was 
given  gratuitously,  and  most  of  the  students  received 
board  and  tuition  for  about  one  dollar  per  week.  Mr. 
Hallock  taught  in  this  way  over  300  students,  of  whom 
132  entered  college,  and  fifty  became  ministers  of  the 
gospel, — six  of  these  becoming  missionaries  to  the 
heathen. 

After  two  years  of  preparatory  study  under  Mr. 
Hallock,  James  Richards  entered  Williams  College, 
as  a  Sophomore,  in  the  twenty-second  year  of  his  age. 
Though  the  college  was  then  young  and  the  expenses 
low,  yet,  owing  to  his  slender  means,  Richards  had  to 
submit  to  many  privations.  His  standing  in  college  as 
a  scholar  was  good,  especially  in  the  department  of 
mathematics;  but  his  chief est  distinction  was  the  fidel- 
ity and  consistency  with  which  he  maintained  his  re- 
ligious profession  and  sought  to  promote  the  spiritual 
interests  of  the  college;  and  that,  too,  in  a  time  when 
the  prevailing  infidelity  and  irreligion  made  the  life  of 
the  Christian  no  easy  one.  But  it  was  a  rare  good  for- 
tune and  a  source  of  no  little  inspiration  and  strength 
to  be  in  college  with  Gordon  Hall  and  to  have  Samuel 
J.  Mills  as  a  classmate.  It  was  to  Hall  and  Richards 
that  Mills  first  made  known  his  missionary  plans,  and 
Richards  was  one  of  the  famous  five  who,  beside  the 
haystack,  discussed  Mills'  project  of  a  mission  to  the 
heathen,  and  who  originated  the  American  Foreign 
Missionary  enterprise.  In  college  he  was  a  member 
of  the  Mills  Theological  Society  and  of  the  Philotech- 
nian  Society.  Immediately  after  graduation  he  en- 
tered the  Theological  Seminary  at  Andover,  where  he 
was  active  in  diffusing  a  missionary  spirit  among  the 
students,  and  was  one  of  the  members  who  originated 

[58] 


Biographical  Sketches 

the  Memorial  to  the  General  Association  of  Massa- 
chusetts which  led  to  the  formation  of  the  American 
Board.  His  name  was  originally  signed  to  that  Me- 
morial, but  was  withdrawn  lest  too  many  names  might 
prejudice  the  application.  The  strength  of  his  pur- 
pose, however,  was  not  weakened,  for  he  was  ready  to 
work  his  passage  to  some  heathen  land  and  there  sup- 
port himself  by  his  own  labors.  "Let  me  never,"  said 
he,  "consider  anything  too  great  to  suffer,  or  anything 
too  dear  to  part  with,  when  the  glory  of  God  and  the 
salvation  of  men  require  it." 

In  September,  1812,  he  finished  his  theological  stud- 
ies and  was  licensed  to  preach.  Having  been  accepted 
by  the  American  Board  as  a  candidate  for  missionary 
service,  he  went  in  November  to  Philadelphia,  where 
he  spent  two  years  in  the  study  of  medicine,  as  an  es- 
sential part  of  his  missionary  education.  Here  he 
often  preached  to  destitute  congregations,  being  also 
employed,  a  part  of  the  time,  as  a  missionary  in  the 
suburbs  of  the  city. 

He  finished  his  missionary  training  in  1814,  but  on 
account  of  the  war  then  existing  with  Great  Britain, 
the  Board  could  not  send  him  forth.  He  accordingly 
accepted  an  invitation  to  preach  for  a  time  to  a  small 
congregation  in  Deering,  New  Hampshire,  where  his 
labors  were  successful  in  restoring  harmony  to  a  divided 
people  and  in  bringing  many  to  the  saving  knowledge 
of  Divine  truth.  On  May  31,  1815,  he  was  married  to 
Sarah  Bardwell  of  Goshen,  Massachusetts,  and  on  the 
21st  of  June,  1815,  he  was  ordained  at  Newburyport, 
Massachusetts,  in  company  with  Messrs.  Warren, 
Mills,  Meigs,  Poor,  and  Bardwell, — the  sermon  on  the 
occasion  being  preached  by  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Worces- 
ter of  Salem,  Massachusetts.  Richards,  Warren,  Meigs, 
Bardwell,  and  Poor,  all  of  them  married  except 
Mr.  Warren,  sailed  from  Newburyport  for  Ceylon, 

[69] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

October  23.  This  constituted  the  second  mission 
of  the  Board.  On  leaving  his  native  land,  Mr.  Rich- 
ards said:  "I  have  been  waiting  with  anxiety  almost 
eight  years  for  an  opportunity  to  go  and  preach  Christ 
among  the  heathen.  I  have  often  wept  at  the  long 
delay.  But  the  day  on  which  I  now  bid  farewell  to 
my  native  land  is  the  happiest  day  of  my  life." 

After  a  voyage  of  five  months  the  missionaries  were 
safely  landed  at  Colombo.  Ceylon  had  been  suggested 
to  the  Board  as  a  favorable  place  for  a  mission  by  Mr. 
Newell,  who  had  found  refuge  there  for  a  time  when 
the  British  authorities  were  endeavoring  to  keep  him 
and  his  colleagues  from  the  continent  of  India.  Mr. 
Richards  and  his  associates  were  received  most  cordially 
by  the  Government  and  the  English  missionaries,  and 
the  mission  was  attended  by  prosperity.  The  island  of 
Ceylon,  with  its  population  of  about  1,000,000,  was  a 
field  of  great  importance  in  itself,  but  its  importance 
to  the  Board  was  greatly  increased  by  the  fact  that 
the  Tamil  people  in  the  Jaffna  district  are  identical  in 
race,  language,  and  religion  with  a  large  population  in 
the  adjacent  parts  of  the  continent.  The  Government 
assigned  the  missionaries  stations  in  this  district  at  Tel- 
lippallai  (Tillipalli)  and  Batticotta,  Mr.  Richards  be- 
ing located  at  the  latter  place.  Ceylon  had  an  impor- 
tant commerce  in  ancient  times,  and  in  the  sixth  cen- 
tury large  numbers  of  Christian  merchants  from  Per- 
sia resided  there.  After  being  lost  to  the  knowledge 
of  Europe  through  the  dark  ages,  the  Portuguese,  in 
1505,  again  discovered  the  island  and  subsequently 
gained  extensive  possessions  on  the  coast,  and  in  1602 
the  Dutch  began  to  acquire  possessions  there,  while  the 
English  finally  took  possession  of  the  whole  island  in 
1815.  It  is  not  known  when  Christianity  was  first  in- 
troduced into  Ceylon,  but  when  Xavier,  the  Jesuit 
"Apostle  of  India,"  visited  the  island  in  the  sixteenth 

[60] 


Biographical  Sketches 

century,  it  is  said  that  he  found  there  20,000  native 
Christians.  Probably,  as  the  Portuguese  assert,  they 
were  but  little  better  than  heathen.  The  Portuguese 
built  many  churches  there,  and  though  many  which  had 
fallen  into  decay  were  rebuilt  by  the  Dutch,  yet  on  the 
whole,  as  commerce  was  the  chief  object  of  this  people, 
and  as  the  English  allowed  the  free  exercise  of  all  re- 
ligions, Christianity,  of  any  kind,  under  the  Dutch  and 
English  rule,  became  nearly  extinct. 

Near  Batticotta,  where  Messrs.  Richards  and  Meigs 
were  stationed,  were  the  ruins  of  a  fine  church  and  also 
of  a  dwelling  house,  which  could  be  repaired  and  used 
for  the  mission.  Until  the  buildings  should  be  in  read- 
iness, Mr.  Richards  began  his  studies  in  Jaffnapatam, 
where  a  temporary  residence  was  obtained.  He  was, 
however,  greatly  embarrassed  in  the  prosecution  of  his 
work  by  a  severe  inflammation  of  the  eyes,  which  in- 
capacitated him  for  study.  The  means  used  for  the 
eyes  proved  unfavorable  to  his  general  health  and, 
probably,  brought  on  the  pulmonary  disease  which  fi- 
nally ended  his  life.  But  though  his  studies  were  inter- 
rupted he  was  enabled  to  preach  occasionally  to  the 
natives  through  an  interpreter,  and  made  himself  useful 
to  the  mission  by  his  medical  knowledge.  Being  com- 
pelled to  cease  from  all  kinds  of  labor  in  1817,  he  found 
some  relief  by  a  stay  of  a  few  months  at  Colombo ;  but 
subsequently  it  was  thought  desirable  that  he  and  one 
of  his  colleagues,  Mr.  Warren,  who  was  also  in  poor 
health,  should  go  to  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  They 
were  granted  free  passage  in  a  government  transport, 
and,  at  first,  the  weather  being  favorable,  their  health 
improved.  But  when  in  sight  of  land  they  were  driven 
out  to  sea  by  boisterous  weather,  and  after  being  ex- 
posed for  a  fortnight  to  the  fury  of  the  tempests,  they 
arrived  at  Cape  Town  with  severe  colds  and  exhausted 
strength.  Mr.  Warren  survived  the  voyage  but  a  few 

[61] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

weeks,  dying  August  11.  It  was  thought  by  some  that 
he  had  been  associated  with  Richards,  Mills,  and  Hall 
in  Williams  College,  with  them  had  consecrated  him- 
self to  the  work  of  foreign  missions,  and  had  taken  a 
dismission  to  Middlebury  College  for  the  purpose  of 
kindling  there  a  zeal  for  the  cause  of  missions.  Rich- 
ards and  Warren  had  enjoyed  the  happiness  of  labor- 
ing together  for  a  brief  time  in  the  same  foreign  field. 
Warren  was  called  from  this  life  in  South  Africa  but 
a  few  weeks  after  Mills,  who  died  soon  after  leaving  the 
Dark  Continent  for  America. 

For  some  time  the  health  of  Mr.  Richards  showed 
improvement  at  the  Cape,  but  a  hemorrhage  so  reduced 
his  strength  that  he  entirely  lost  his  voice.  He  returned 
to  Jaffnapatam  in  November,  and  became  so  exhausted 
by  the  part  of  the  journey  which  was  by  land,  that  he 
and  his  brethren  supposed  he  was  near  to  death,  but  in 
the  following  summer  he  had  so  far  recovered  as  to  be 
able  to  visit  the  mission  schools  and  occasionally  to  im- 
part religious  instruction  through  an  interpreter.  For 
a  year  more  he  was  enabled  to  render  himself  highly  use- 
ful to  the  mission  by  his  active  labors  and  wise  counsels. 
Overtasking  his  powers,  however,  particularly  by  the 
fatigue  of  medical  attendance  which  devolved  much  on 
him,  he  fell  again  into  a  decline  from  which  he  was  des- 
tined never  to  recover.  But  while  his  period  of  service 
was  drawing  to  a  close  he  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing 
some  of  the  success  of  the  mission, — the  whole  number 
of  native  converts  in  church  fellowship  at  the  close  of 
the  year  1821  being  fifteen,  among  these  six  pupils  in 
the  girls'  boarding-school.  He  continued  to  decline  till 
near  the  end  of  June,  when  began  a  period  of  acute  suf- 
ferings which  he  endured  to  the  end,  not  only  patiently, 
but  even  with  gratitude.  His  sufferings  seemed  to 
increase  his  mental  activity,  while  his  faith  became 
stronger  and  his  views  of  the  divine  character  higher  and 

[62] 


Biographical  Sketches 

more  consoling.  When  he  was  near  the  end  he  called  for 
his  only  son,  James,  and  taking  him  by  the  hand,  said: 
"My  son,  your  papa  is  dying.  He  will  very  soon  be 
dead.  Thou,  my  son,  remember  these  things:  Be  a 
good  boy;  obey  your  mamma;  and  love  Jesus  Christ. 
Now  remember  these,  my  son."  Soon  after  he  became 
speechless  and  in  a  few  moments  more  fell  asleep.  He 
died  August  3,  1822,  in  the  thirty-ninth  year  of  his  age. 
A  suitable  monument  erected  at  his  grave  bears  an 
inscription  in  English  and  also  one  in  Tamil.  The 
English  inscription  is  as  follows: 

"In  memory  of 
The  Rev.  JAMES  RICHAKDS,  A.M. 

American  Missionary 
Who  died  August  3,  1822; 

Aged  38  years. 

One  of  the  first  projectors  of  American  Missions, 
He  gave  himself  first  to  Christ, 

And  then  to  the  Heathen. 
A  Physician  both  to  the  soul  and  body. 

He  was 

In  health,  laborious, 
In  sickness,  patient, 
In  death,  triumphant; 
He  is  not,  for  God  took  him." 

Rev.  Dr.  Daniel  Poor,  who  was  associated  with  Mr. 
Richards  in  the  mission  at  Ceylon,  and  who  was  with 
him  in  his  last  hours,  thus  describes  him:  "In  regard 
to  his  personal  appearance,  Mr.  Richards  may  have 
been  about  five  feet  eight  inches  in  height ;  but  being  of 
a  slender  frame,  or  rather  the  reverse  of  being  a  corpu- 
lent man,  he  was  in  appearance  rather  tall.  He  was  of 
a  sandy  complexion,  and  his  countenance  was  a  fair  in- 

[63] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

dex  to  the  man — though  cheerful,  yet  mild,  grave,  and 
prepossessing.  His  manner  of  preaching  was  plain, 
didactic,  and  pointed,  evincing  an  earnest  and  devoted 
spirit  rather  than  very  remarkable  talents.  In  this 
connection,  however,  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  he  at- 
tained to  a  good  degree  of  respectability  in  two  profes- 
sions, theological  and  medical,  in  the  time  usually 
allotted  to  one." 

Though,  on  account  of  his  ill  health,  he  was  pre- 
vented from  preaching  to  any  great  extent,  yet  he  used 
his  strength  to  its  utmost,  and  in  this  respect  he  may  be 
called  a  laborious  missionary.  His  patience  under  suf- 
fering, his  faith  amid  trials,  his  habitual  cheerfulness 
and  resignation  to  the  divine  will  under  affliction,  his 
lively  interest  in  every  thing  that  related  to  the  cause  of 
Christ ; — these  and  many  other  graces  of  a  kindred  na- 
ture, reflect  honor  upon  himself  and  upon  the  cause  to 
which  he  was  devoted.  His  associates  spoke  of  his 
great  usefulness  as  a  friend  and  counsellor,  as  a  com- 
panion and  fellow  laborer,  and  regarded  the  example  of 
his  life  as  a  rich  legacy. 

The  following  stanza  from  a  poem  composed  by 
William  Tappan  on  the  occasion  of  the  death  of  Mr. 
Richards  may  fittingly  find  a  place  here: 

"Isle  of  the  beauteous  Indian  deep! 
Land  of  the  goalless  pagan's  shrine! 
Weep,  in  your  groves  of  odor  weep, 
Sigh  mid  the  olive  and  the  vine; 

Haste,  Ceylonese!  and  bring 

Your  tribute  to  the  dead;  , 

Your  choicest  chaplets  fling 

Upon  the  martyr's  bed." 

Mr.  Richards  received  the  degree  of  Master  of 
Arts  from  his  Alma  Mater,  and  Doctor  of  Medicine 
from  the  University  of  Pennsylvania. 

He  was  married  on  May  31,  1815,  to  Sarah  Bard- 

[64] 


Biographical  Sketches 

well  of  Goshen,  Massachusetts,  a  sister  of  Rev.  Hora- 
tio Bardwell,  D.D.,  sometime  a  missionary  in  India. 
She  married  for  her  second  husband  Rev.  Joseph 
Knight,  an  English  missionary,  in  Southern  India,  Sep- 
tember 17,  1823,  and  died  at  Nellore,  April  26,  1825. 
There  were  born  to  Mr.  Richards  two  children. 
Three  grandchildren  are  now  living:  Miss  Clara  Rich- 
ards Boynton;  Miss  Emily  Symmes  Richards;  and 
James  Symmes  Richards. 


CLASS  OF  1810 

LUTHER  RICE,  son  of  Captain  Amos  and  Sara  Rice, 
was  born  in  Northboro,  Worcester  County,  Massachu- 
setts, March  25,  1783.  The  grandfather,  Jacob  Rice, 
was  one  of  the  early  settlers  of  the  town.  The  father 
had  engaged  in  the  struggles  of  the  Revolutionary  War 
and  had  essentially  aided  in  securing  the  independence 
of  the  United  States.  He  was  a  man  of  strong  intel- 
lect, but  with  a  limited  education,  and  habits  acquired 
in  camp  life  seemed  to  have  been  unfavorable  to  his  fu- 
ture usefulness,  although  he  was  nominally  connected 
with  the  Congregational  Church. 

The  mother  of  Luther  is  described  as  an  extraordi- 
nary woman.  She  had  a  vigorous  and  clear  mind, 
which,  with  the  advantages  of  a  common  school  educa- 
tion, her  subsequent  application  had  greatly  improved. 
She  took  great  pains  to  impart  religious  knowledge  to 
the  son,  who,  from  earliest  childhood,  was  made  famil- 
iar with  the  Scriptures,  and  was  regularly  taught  por- 
tions of  the  Westminster  Catechism.  These  influences, 
combined  with  those  of  a  pious  aunt,  produced  serious 
impressions  in  the  boy  when  not  more  than  four  years 
of  age.  These  early  advantages  he  regarded  as  among 
the  most  efficient  instrumentalities  ordered  of  God  in 
his  subsequent  religious  experiences  and  conversion. 

[65] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

It  was  in  his  eighteenth  year  that  he  professed  religion, 
and  his  union  with  the  church  took  place  March  14, 
1802. 

As  to  his  natural  characteristics,  it  is  said  that  as  a 
child  he  was  quick  in  his  perceptions,  docile  in  spirit, 
and  amiable  in  manners.  In  school  he  was  greatly  be- 
loved by  his  classmates,  and  gave  promise  of  future 
greatness  by  his  aptitude  and  diligence  in  study.  It 
was,  however,  two  or  three  years  from  the  time  he 
joined  the  church  that  he  began  to  think  of  devoting 
himself  to  the  Christian  ministry.  Up  to  this  time  he 
had  labored  on  the  farm  and  had  fondly  desired  to  re- 
main there  caring  for  his  parents  while  they  should 
live.  The  opposition  of  the  father  to  the  son's  active 
Christian  life  was  the  immediate  occasion  of  his  change 
of  plans.  The  idea  of  obtaining  a  college  education 
having  been  suggested  to  him  by  a  minister  of  a  neigh- 
boring town,  he  entered  Leicester  Academy,  where  he 
spent  three  years  in  pursuing  his  preparatory  studies. 
To  assist  in  defraying  his  expenses,  he  devoted  some 
time  in  teaching  a  day  school  at  Paxton,  Massachusetts, 
and  conducting  a  singing  class  at  night.  He  joined 
the  Sophomore  class  in  Williams  in  October,  1807,  de- 
fraying a  part  of  his  college  expenses  by  teaching  school 
in  vacation.  He  was  fortunate  in  having  as  college 
mates  Gordon  Hall,  Samuel  J.  Mills,  and  James  Rich- 
ards. He  was  a  member  of  the  Philotechnian  Society 
and  of  the  Mills  Theological  Society.  His  college 
course  was  marked  by  diligence  and  success  in  study,  by 
uniform  activity  in  the  Lord's  service,  and  by  growth 
in  Christian  character.  The  desire  which  he  felt  for  the 
salvation  of  sinners  before  he  left  his  father's  house  was 
cherished  throughout  his  college  course.  In  a  letter 
written  to  his  brother  soon  after  graduation  he  advo- 
cated the  claims  of  the  Massachusetts  Home  Mission- 
ary Society,  having  in  mind  the  object  of  collecting 

[66] 


Biographical  Sketches 

funds  for  the  moral  and  spiritual  improvement  of  the 
Indians  of  our  country.  His  success  as  a  student  is 
evidenced  by  his  having  a  part  in  the  Commencement 
exercises,  when  he  delivered  a  poem,  his  subject  being 
"On  Man."  In  the  middle  of  his  Senior  year,  by  the 
concurrence  and  recommendation  of  the  president  of 
the  college,  he  had  joined  the  class  at  Andover  Theo- 
logical Seminary  which  had  recently  been  established. 
A  few  weeks  after  graduation  from  college  he  was  li- 
censed to  preach  by  the  Mountain  Association,  Berk- 
shire County,  Massachusetts. 

Rice  had  been  one  of  the  original  five  signers  of  the 
Constitution  of  the  Society  of  "Brethren,"  which  had 
been  formed  at  Williams,  and  when  the  society  was  in- 
troduced into  the  seminary  the  first  item  in  the  book  of 
records,  now  preserved  in  the  library  at  Andover,  notes 
the  election  of  Rice  as  President.  When,  in  1911,  there 
was  organized  in  the  seminary  the  "Society  of  Inquiry 
on  the  Subject  of  Missions,"  Rice  became  one  of  the 
Prudential  Committee.  And  though  his  name  was 
left  off,  lest  the  number  of  names  should  prejudice  their 
cause,  he  was  one  of  the  six  who  prepared  for  the  Gen- 
eral Association  of  Massachusetts  the  petition  which  re- 
sulted in  the  formation  of  the  American  Board.  On 
February  6,  1812,  he  was  one  of  the  five,  the  others  be- 
ing Hall,  Judson,  Newell,  and  Nott,  who  were  ordained 
at  Salem  as  the  first  missionaries  of  the  new  Board.  A 
few  days  later,  February  18,  1812,  Mr.  Rice,  with  Mr. 
Hall  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Nott,  sailed  from  Philadelphia 
for  Calcutta;  while  Messrs.  Judson  and  Newell,  with 
their  wives,  sailed  from  Salem  for  the  same  port.  It 
was  on  this  long  voyage,  of  six  months,  across  the  ocean 
that  Messrs.  Rice  and  Judson,  though  in  different  ves- 
sels, on  the  reexamination  of  the  subject  of  baptism, 
reached  the  conviction  that  the  views  of  the  Baptists 
were  scriptural.  They  were  subsequently  baptized, 

[67] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

though  at  different  times  and  in  different  places,  Mr. 
Rice  being  baptized  on  November  1,  1812,  in  the  chapel 
at  Serampur  by  the  Rev.  William  Ward  of  the  Eng- 
lish Baptist  Mission,  while  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Judson  had 
been  baptized  on  the  first  Lord's  day  in  September  of 
the  same  year  by  Dr.  Carey.  Though  no  one  could  im- 
pugn the  motives  of  the  two  brethren  for  their  action, 
yet  this  change  of  views  was  a  "trying  event"  to  the 
other  missionaries.  Messrs.  Rice  and  Judson  promptly 
wrote  of  their  decision  to  the  Corresponding  Secretary 
and  withdrew  themselves  from  under  the  instructions  of 
the  Board. 

Among  the  first  trials  they  were  called  to  endure  in 
the  foreign  field  was  the  stern  opposition  of  the  English 
authorities  in  Calcutta.  At  first  a  peremptory  order 
was  issued  that  the  missionaries  should  be  sent  back  to 
America.  After  various  delays  it  was  finally  decided 
to  allow  them  to  go  to  the  Isle  of  France.  On  arriv- 
ing there  it  was  decided  that  Mr.  Rice  should  return  to 
this  country,  partly  on  account  of  his  declining  health, 
but  especially  for  the  purpose  of  arousing  the  Baptist 
churches  to  an  effort  in  behalf  of  the  pagan  nations. 
One  object  being  to  reconnoiter  South  America  as  a 
missionary  field,  he  sailed  in  March,  1813,  for  St.  Sal- 
vador, where  he  arrived  on  the  4th  of  May.  Remain- 
ing here  something  over  two  months,  he  sailed  for  New 
York  July  17.  On  his  arrival,  in  September,  he  im- 
mediately addressed  himself  to  the  object  of  his  mission 
with  great  zeal,  and  with  a  good  degree  of  success. 
Numerous  missionary  societies  were  formed  chiefly  by 
his  individual  efforts,  and  in  the  spring  of  1814  was  or- 
ganized the  "Baptist  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  for 
the  United  States."  Subsequently  the  constitution  was 
so  changed  as  to  provide  for  the  establishment  of  a 
classical  and  theological  seminary  for  the  education 
of  young  men,  especially  for  the  ministry.  While 

[68] 


Biographical  Sketches 

Messrs.  Rice  and  Judson  were  appointed  by  the 
Triennial  Convention  as  their  missionaries,  it  was 
deemed  expedient  that  Mr.  Rice  should  remain  in  the 
United  States  to  give  increased  efficiency  to  the  action 
of  the  churches  in  favor  of  the  mission.  He  had  already 
been  engaged  in  this  work  for  nearly  a  year,  during 
which  time  he  had  organized  twenty-five  new  mission- 
ary societies,  besides  directing  to  foreign  missions  the 
efforts  and  contributions  of  many  societies  which  had 
existed  before.  The  sort  of  work  in  which  he  had  be- 
come engaged  and  which  he  was  destined  to  follow 
through  the  rest  of  his  life,  involved  travelling  many 
thousand  miles,  mostly  through  the  South.  Some  idea 
of  the  multiplied  privations  and  toils  of  Mr.  Rice  in 
this  kind  of  work  may  be  gained  from  a  letter  written 
to  his  brother,  dated  October  29,  1816.  "The  25th  of 
July,"  he  writes,  "I  left  Philadelphia,  and  arrived  in 
Warrenton,  North  Carolina,  on  the  evening  of  Friday, 
2nd  August,  at  least  370  miles.  After  attending  the 
North  Carolina  general  meeting  of  correspondence, 
near  that  place,  I  took  stage  on  the  night  of  Monday, 
about  midnight,  having  been  occupied  after  meeting, 
till  that  hour,  in  writing,  without  going  to  bed,  and 
about  two  o'clock,  on  Wednesday  morning,  arrived 
again  in  Richmond,  Virginia,  more  than  100  miles  from 
Warrenton.  In  the  evening  of  the  same  day,  preached 
in  Richmond,  wrote  twenty-one  letters  on  Thursday, 
besides  doing  some  other  necessary  business,  and  at 
three  o'clock,  on  Friday  morning,  left  that  city,  and 
preached  in  the  evening  of  the  same  day  in  Goochland 
County,  forty  miles  from  Richmond.  At  a  yearly 
meeting,  same  place,  preached  again  on  Saturday  at 
twelve  o'clock,  and  on  the  Sabbath,  that  is,  the  next  day, 
was  with  the  Appomattox  Association;  preaching  in 
Prince  Edward  County,  about  sixty  miles  from  where 
I  was  in  Goochland  County."  In  closing  his  report  for 

[69] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

1817,  he  writes:  "Since  the  date  of  my  letter  of  the 
19th  of  June,  1816,  I  have  travelled  6600  miles  in  pop- 
ulous and  in  dreary  portions  of  country — through  wil- 
derness and  over  rivers — across  mountains  and  valleys 
— in  heat  and  cold — by  day  and  by  night — in  weariness 
and  painfulness,  and  fastings,  and  loneliness;  but  not 
a  moment  has  been  lost  for  want  of  health;  no  painful 
calamity  has  fallen  to  my  lot;  no  peril  has  closed  upon 
me ;  nor  has  fear  been  permitted  to  prey  on  my  spirits ; 
nor  even  inquietude  to  disturb  my  peace." 

About  this  time,  however,  in  addition  to  the  prose- 
cution of  his  regular  agency,  he  assumed  duties  and  re- 
sponsibilities which  brought  upon  him  serious  illness 
and,  for  a  time,  cast  a  shadow  upon  his  reputation. 
For  some  time  he,  with  other  prominent  men  in  the 
denomination,  had  felt  the  need  of  improving  the  in- 
tellectual standing  of  the  Baptist  ministry,  and  a  school 
to  further  this  object  had  been  established  in  Philadel- 
phia. It  was  owing  largely  to  his  influence  that  the 
"General  Missionary  Convention  of  the  Baptist  De- 
nominations in  the  United  States,"  in  1820,  decided  to 
establish  in  Washington  a  college  and  theological  in- 
stitution. This  institution  became  Columbian  College, 
of  which  Mr.  Rice  became  the  Treasurer  and  Financial 
Agent.  It  was  in  discharge  of  his  duties  at  the  col- 
lege that  his  affairs  became  involved  in  inextricable  con- 
fusion and  he  was  subjected  to  the  severest  criticism. 
Very  much  might  be  written  about  this  phase  of  Mr. 
Rice's  life,  but  it  may  be  said  in  brief  that  while  he  was 
guilty  of  error,  the  error  was  one  of  judgment  and  not 
such  as  to  impugn  the  integrity  of  his  motives.  He 
was  not  sufficiently  cautious  in  the  pecuniary  manage- 
ment of  the  institution  and  was  too  sanguine  in  the  man- 
ner of  conducting  his  agency  in  its  behalf.  It  is  the 
judgment  of  his  biographer  that  as  a  financier  Mr.  Rice 
certainly  did  not  excel,  and  that  he  ought  to  have  had 

[70] 


Biographical  Sketches 

nothing  to  do  with  the  management  of  the  institution. 
Professor  William  Gamwell,  in  his  "History  of  Amer- 
ican Baptist  Missions,"  has  called  attention  to  the  pe- 
culiar fault  in  Mr.  Rice's  character,  while  giving  high 
appreciation  to  the  greatness  of  the  work  accomplished 
by  him.  Professor  Gamwell  writes  of  him  that  he 
"had  every  quality  essential  to  the  discharge  of  a  great 
executive  office,  excepting  discretion  alone, — that  one 
without  which  knowledge  and  piety,  and  zeal  the  most 
disinterested,  are  clearly  unavailing.  .  .  .  Yet,  not- 
withstanding his  imperfections  and  errors — and  these 
had  their  origin  in  a  too  ardent  and  unrestrained  imagi- 
nation— his  name  deserves  to  be  enrolled  among  the 
ablest  and  most  devoted  of  the  founders  of  our  Ameri- 
can missions,  for  he  accomplished  a  work  which  no  one 
of  his  contemporaries  could  have  possibly  achieved." 

Mr.  Rice  resigned  as  general  agent  and  treasurer  of 
the  institution,  though  he  continued  to  collect  funds  for 
it  without  being  expected  to  exercise  any  control  in  their 
disbursement.  In  the  midst  of  all  the  painful  disap- 
pointments in  regard  to  the  college,  Mr.  Rice  retained 
his  confidence  that  its  rescue  would  be  effected.  To  this 
rescue  he  devoted  the  most  of  his  energies  for  the  re- 
mainder of  his  life.  In  the  midst  of  the  embarrassments 
which  he  shared  with  the  college,  he  could  write  a  friend : 
"The  proper  collegiate  education  of  young  ministers  is, 
with  me,  the  essential  and  paramount  object  of  all  my 
exertions."  It  is  pleasing  to  relate  that  after  the  ex- 
citement caused  by  the  embarrassments  of  the  college 
had  passed  away,  a  more  kindly  feeling  towards  Mr. 
Rice  began  to  appear,  and  many  who  had  harshly  criti- 
cized him  viewed  him  with  more  friendly  feelings,  being 
touched  by  the  humility  manifest  in  his  letters,  which  al- 
ways abounded  in  expressions  of  tenderness  and  Chris- 
tian love. 

During  the  last  years  of  his  life  Mr.  Rice  suffered 

L71] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

much  from  painful  disease.  He  had  never  fully  recov- 
ered from  the  shock  his  constitution  received  during  his 
residence  in  India,  where  he  suffered  with  almost  con- 
tinuous affections  of  the  liver.  With  this  predisposi- 
tion to  disease,  the  almost  unexampled  toils  which  he 
endured  in  the  prosecution  of  his  mission  and  college 
agencies  contributed  to  the  early  breaking  down  of  his 
physical  powers.  A  person  less  devoted  and  of  less  he- 
roic mould  could  not  have  endured  the  long  journeys  he 
took,  in  which  he  was  subject  to  hunger  and  cold,  to 
sleepless  nights,  and  perpetual  weariness.  During 
these  years  of  physical  weakness,  in  addition  to  his  ef- 
forts in  raising  money  for  the  college,  he  was  much  of 
the  time  engaged  in  preaching,  and  in  various  ways  was 
laboring  for  the  advancement  of  the  Baptist  cause  in 
Washington,  where  he  sought  to  bring  about  a  revival 
of  pure  and  undefiled  religion. 

Although  he  had  been  much  of  an  invalid  for  many 
months,  his  final  sickness  came  suddenly  when  he  was 
on  a  journey  to  the  South.  He  died  after  a  short  ill- 
ness in  Edgefield  District,  South  Carolina,  on  the  25th 
of  September,  1846.  He  was  buried  near  Pine  Pleas- 
ant Baptist  Meeting  House.  A  large  marble  slab  was 
placed  over  his  grave  by  the  South  Carolina  Baptist 
Convention.  The  following  is  part  of  the  memorial 
inscription : 

"LUTHER  RlCE 

With  a  portly  person  and  commanding  presence, 

Combined  a  strong  and  brilliant  intellect. 

As  a  theologian  he  was  orthodox; 
A  scholar,  his  education  was  liberal. 

He  was  an  eloquent  and  powerful  preacher; 
A  self-denying  and  indefatigable  philanthropist. 

His  frailties  with  his  dust  are  entombed; 
And,  upon  the  walls  of  Zion,  his  virtues  engraven." 

[72] 


Biographical  Sketches 

It  is,  of  course,  idle  to  speculate,  as  some  have  done, 
whether  Mr.  Rice  might  not  have  spent  a  more  useful 
life  had  he  returned  to  the  missionary  service  in  India, 
as  he  at  one  time  planned  and  as  his  friend,  Judson, 
strongly  urged  him  to  do.  As  it  was,  he  accomplished 
a  great  work  for  the  Baptist  denomination  in  America, 
and  for  the  cause  of  foreign  missions.  Probably  no 
man  of  his  time  did  so  much  as  he  did  to  unify  the  de- 
nomination, to  inspire  it  with  zeal  for  mission  work,  and 
to  improve  the  intellectual  standing  of  its  ministry. 
His  success  in  these  respects  was  due  largely  to  his 
ability  as  a  speaker.  He  was  particularly  eminent 
as  a  preacher.  He  was  disposed  to  emphasize  rather 
strongly,  perhaps,  the  doctrines  of  divine  decrees,  espe- 
cially that  of  divine  sovereignty.  He  was  especially  fa- 
miliar with  the  Scriptures,  it  being  his  plan  to  read  the 
Bible  through,  systematically,  once  a  year,  and  so  his 
discourses  were  largely  scriptural.  His  sermons,  though 
studied,  were  not  written,  and  though  he  rode  habitu- 
ally from  place  to  place,  he  did  not  repeat  the  same  ser- 
mons. As  a  speaker  he  was  natural,  earnest,  and  self- 
possessed.  It  was  said  of  him  that  his  whole  demeanor 
in  the  pulpit  was  that  of  an  honest  man  and  a  sincere 
Christian.  Dr.  James  B.  Taylor,  his  biographer,  wrote 
of  him:  "As  a  preacher  of  righteousness  he  has  been 
rarely  excelled.  By  nature  he  was  endowed  with  many 
of  the  essential  attributes  of  an  effective  speaker.  His 
voice  was  clear  and  melodious.  His  appearance  was 
highly  prepossessing.  Above  the  ordinary  height,  with 
a  robust  and  perfectly  erect  form,  there  was  at  once 
produced  on  the  mind  of  the  beholder  a  most  favorable 
impression.  The  moment  he  began  to  speak,  attention 
was  aroused,  and  uniformly  the  interest  thus  awakened 
was  kept  up  throughout  the  service.  The  clearness  of 
his  conception,  the  accuracy  and  force  of  his  language, 
and  the  solemn  dignity  of  his  manner,  all  contributed  to 

[73] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

render  him  one  of  the  most  interesting  public  speakers 
of  our  land."  Another  who  knew  him  intimately  also 
wrote:  "How  vividly  does  this  attempt  to  recall  one  I 
so  much  revered,  bring  his  person,  and  voice,  and  whole 
manner  and  bearing  before  my  mind!  I  seem  to  see 
him  rising  in  the  pulpit,  not  less  than  six  feet  in  height 
— rather  portly  but  not  corpulent, — his  small  but 
pleasant  eyes  passing  over  the  assembly,  as  with  great 
deliberation,  and  perfect  self-possession,  and  a  voice 
reaching  distinctly  the  remotest  hearer,  he  proceeds 
to  illustrate  and  impress  his  subject,  not  unfre- 
quently  making  appeals,  characterized  by  a  subduing 
pathos." 

That  he  was  recognized  as  a  man  of  superior  talent 
was  evidenced  by  the  fact  that  in  1815  he  was  elected  to 
the  presidency  of  Transylvania  University,  Kentucky, 
and  in  1832  to  the  presidency  of  Georgetown  College, 
in  the  same  state.  By  his  refusal  of  both  of  these  posi- 
tions was  exhibited  a  striking  characteristic  of  the  man, 
his  disinterestedness.  Other  marked  traits  were  his 
humility  and  his  spirit  of  forgiveness  which  he  showed 
even  towards  his  bitterest  enemies.  These  characteris- 
tics accord  perfectly  with  his  reputation  as  a  man  of 
prayer.  In  his  diary,  he  once  wrote:  "My  seasons  of 
prayer  are  seven  in  twenty- four  hours;  at  day-break, 
midday,  evening  twilight,  bedtime,  between  bedtime 
and  day-break,  private;  before  breakfast  and  after  sup- 
per, in  the  family. 

Mr.  Rice  was  never  married.  It  is  not  known 
that,  besides  letters,  he  left  any  published  writings. 
It  is  said  that  during  his  voyage  from  India 
to  this  country,  he  prepared  a  treatise  on  the 
subject  of  baptism,  in  a  series  of  letters  to  his 
brother. 

A  memoir  of  him  was  prepared  by  James  B,  Taylor, 
and  published  in  Baltimore  in  1840. 

[74] 


Biographical  Sketches 

JOHN  SEWARD,  one  of  the  signers  of  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  first  Foreign  Missionary  Society  formed  in 
this  country,  was  a  native  of  Granville,  Massachusetts, 
where  he  was  born  January  11,  1784.  He  was  a  son  of 
John  Seward,  who  was,  possibly,  one  of  the  original 
settlers  of  the  town.  He  fitted  for  college  under  the 
tuition  of  Rev.  Timothy  Mather  Cooley,  D.D.  (Yale 
1792),  and  entered  college  in  the  second  term  of  Soph- 
omore year.  Among  his  classmates  were  Justin  Ed- 
wards, Daniel  Kellogg,  and  Luther  Rice.  In  college 
he  was  a  member  of  the  Philotechnian  Society. 

Besides  Mr.  Seward,  the  other  original  signers  of 
the  Constitution  of  this  Foreign  Missionary  Society, 
called  the  "Brethren,"  were  Samuel  J.  Mills,  Ezra 
Fisk,  who  was  the  first  President  of  the  Society,  James 
Richards,  and  Luther  Rice.  One  of  the  articles  of  the 
Constitution  enjoined  the  exercise  of  the  utmost  care 
in  admitting  new  members,  and  no  one  was  to  be  ad- 
mitted who  was  under  any  engagement  of  any  kind 
which  should  be  incompatible  with  going  on  a  mission 
to  the  heathen.  Mills  seems  to  have  been  particularly 
strenuous  about  this  requirement,  and  after  he  went  to 
Andover,  wrote  an  urgent  letter  about  it  to  Seward. 
The  following  extract  is  from  that  letter,  which  is  one 
of  two  autograph  letters  of  Mills  preserved  in  the  col- 
lege library.  The  letter  is  dated  Divinity  College,  An- 
dover, March  20,  1810.  Mills  had  quoted  one  of  the 
commands  of  the  Society  of  Illuminati,  and  then  con- 
tinued: "Let  us  be  more  cautious  in  the  admission  of 
members  than  ever  the  Illuminati.  We  shall  do  well  to 
examine  their  every  look,  their  every  action,  above  all 
see  that  they  are  possessed  of  ardent  piety.  Let  them 
take  hold,  as  it  were,  of  the  Angel  of  the  Covenant. 
Let  their  souls  go  out  to  God  in  fervent  supplications 
that  the  heathen  might  be  given  to  Jesus  Christ  as  an 
inheritance." 

[75] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

After  graduation  Seward  studied  theology  with 
Rev.  Ebenezer  Porter,  D.D.  (Dartmouth  1792),  of 
Washington,  Connecticut.  He  was  licensed  to  preach 
at  New  Preston,  Connecticut,  June  5,  1811.  Receiv- 
ing a  commission  to  labor  as  a  missionary  on  the  West- 
ern Reserve,  he  was  ordained  as  an  evangelist  by  the 
Hartford  North  Connecticut  Association,  in  West 
Hartford,  September  25,  1811.  On  the  28th  of  the 
same  month  he  started  for  Ohio  on  horseback,  and  after 
a  journey  of  three  weeks  reached  Conneaut,  where  he 
spent  his  first  Sabbath  on  the  field  of  his  future  labors. 
On  August  5,  1812,  he  was  installed  pastor  of  an  in- 
fant church  in  Aurora,  Portage  County,  Ohio,  where 
he  remained  in  a  happy  and  successful  ministry,  till 
1884.  While  James  Richards  and  Luther  Rice,  two 
other  signers  of  the  Constitution  of  the  first  Foreign 
Missionary  Society,  became  foreign  missionaries,  Sew- 
ard was  advised  to  engage  in  home  missionary  work, 
which  at  that  time  called  for  about  as  much  heroism  as 
the  foreign  field  does  to-day.  A  large  part  of  his 
earlier  ministry  was  devoted  to  missionary  labor,  in  all 
parts  of  the  Western  Reserve,  where  he  became  a  de- 
voted and  successful  home  missionary.  In  the  spring 
of  1844,  he  was  dismissed,  at  his  own  request,  from  the 
church  in  Aurora,  and  at  once  commenced  preaching  in 
Solon,  Cuyahoga  County,  New  York,  where  he  was 
installed  October  7,  1845.  After  laboring  here  with 
acceptance  for  about  fifteen  years,  he  retired  from  the 
ministry,  and  spent  the  remainder  of  his  life  at  Tall- 
madge,  Ohio,  where  he  died  January  24,  1873,  aged  89. 

CLASS  OF  1812 

ALFRED  WRIGHT,  son  of  Josiah  and  Temperance 
Wright,  was  born  in  Columbia,  Tolland  County,  Con- 
necticut, March  1, 1788.  Both  of  the  parents  were  pro- 
fessors of  religion.  With  a  family  of  eleven  children, 

[76] 


Biographical  Sketches 

the  father,  who  had  only  a  small  estate,  was  not  able  to 
support  the  son  at  school,  and  employed  him  on  the 
farm  till  he  was  about  seventeen  years  of  age.  Al- 
though in  feeble  health,  with  his  father's  consent  he  re- 
solved to  obtain  an  education,  mainly  by  his  own  efforts. 
He  fitted  for  college  mostly  at  Bacon  Academy,  in  Col- 
chester, Connecticut,  defraying  his  expenses  by  occa- 
sionally teaching.  He  entered  college  in  an  advanced 
class  in  May,  1810.  He  became  a  member  of  the  Phil- 
otechnian  Society,  and  of  the  Mills  Theological  Society. 
It  was  his  original  intention  to  study  medicine,  but 
being  hopefully  converted  during  a  revival  in  col- 
lege in  the  spring  of  1812,  he  determined  to  study 
theology.  After  graduation  he  was  for  some  time  prin- 
cipal of  the  academy  in  Hadley,  Massachusetts,  and 
while  there  he  united  with  the  church  under  the  care  of 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Woodbridge.  In  November,  1813,  he  en- 
tered the  theological  seminary  at  Andover,  and  there 
he  felt  called  to  engage  in  the  work  of  missions.  In  the 
fall  of  1814  he  accepted  the  appointment  of  tutor  in  his 
Alma  Mater,  hoping  to  have  much  leisure  for  the  study 
of  languages  and  thus  to  become  better  fitted  for  his 
duties  as  a  missionary.  Soon  after  entering  upon  the 
duties  of  the  tutorship,  his  health  completely  failed,  and 
in  1815  he  went  to  Raleigh,  North  Carolina,  where  he 
spent  three  years.  His  health  being  partially  restored, 
he  engaged  as  principal  of  a  female  academy,  1817-19, 
and  at  the  same  time  did  a  good  deal  to  improve  the 
condition  of  the  negroes. 

On  December  17,  1819,  he  was  ordained  as  an  evan- 
gelist, in  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  in  company  with 
Mr.  Jonas  King  (Williams  1816),  and  soon  after  he 
received  an  appointment  from  the  American  Board  to 
labor  as  a  missionary  among  the  Choctaw  Indians.  In 
the  spring  of  1820  he  returned  to  New  England,  and, 
having  visited  his  old  home  on  May  10,  he  took  leave  of 

[77] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

the  Corresponding  Secretary  of  the  Board  at  Salem, 
Massachusetts,  and  proceeded  on  horseback,  circuitous- 
ly,  for  the  purposes  of  agency,  through  New  York, 
Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  Kentucky,  and  Tennessee,  to 
Eliot,  where  he  arrived  in  December,  to  assist  Rev.  Mr. 
Kingsbury  in  the  Choctaw  Mission.  He  labored  suc- 
cessively at  the  stations  of  Eliot,  Mayhew,  and  Goshen, 
till  1831,  when  the  missionary  operations  were  inter- 
rupted by  the  removal  of  the  Indians  to  their  new  coun- 
try, which  lay  between  the  Arkansas  and  Red  rivers, 
and  west  of  the  territory  of  Arkansas. 

He  now  revisited  New  England  and  remained  north 
during  the  summer,  and  returning  to  the  South  in  De- 
cember, he  proceeded,  with  his  associate,  Mr.  Loring 
S.  Williams,  to  the  new  Choctaw  territory,  to  com- 
mence a  mission  there.  He  reached  Little  Rock,  Feb- 
ruary 18, 1832,  where  he  was  detained  by  a  severe  illness 
till  late  in  August,  when  he  proceeded  to  his  field  of 
labor.  The  new  station  which  he  occupied  here  he 
named  Wheelock,  in  memory  of  the  president  of  Dart- 
mouth College.  He  at  once  established  a  church  of 
thirty-seven  members,  and  soon  organized  Sunday  and 
day  schools. 

For  more  than  thirty  years  he  labored,  with  almost 
unremitting  success,  among  the  Choctaws,  until  his 
death  at  Wheelock,  Arkansas,  March  31,  1853.  He  es- 
tablished several  churches  and  numerous  schools,  some- 
times having  as  many  as  six  different  preaching  places, 
and  gathering  in  the  schools  as  many  as  400  pupils. 
In  a  boarding  school  which  he  established,  the  studies 
were  of  quite  advanced  grade.  As  he  was  possessed  of 
considerable  medical  knowledge,  his  labors  were  greatly 
increased  by  prescribing  for  the  sick. 

He  also  rendered  -an  important  service  to  the 
mission  by  his  publication  of  books  in  the  Choctaw 
language.  As  early  as  1827  he  commenced  the  prepara- 

[78] 


Biographical  Sketches 

tion  of  these  books,  which  were  afterward  published, — 
a  "Choctaw  Instructor,"  "Selections  from  the  Gospels 
of  Luke  and  John,"  and  a  translation  of  the  history 
of  Joseph.  Subsequently  he  translated  some  of  the 
books  of  the  Old  Testament  and  Gallaudet's  "Sacred 
Biography." 

His  letters  published  in  the  Missionary  Herald 
speak  repeatedly  of  revivals  and  additions  to  the  church. 
In  the  Herald  for  1828  he  gave  a  long  and  most  inter- 
esting account  of  the  religious  opinions  and  traditions 
of  the  Choctaws. 

These  multifarious  and  taxing  labors  were  per- 
formed by  him  while  suffering  from  a  complication  of 
diseases.  It  was  said  of  him  that  he  was  "never  with- 
out pain,  and  for  twenty  years  unable  to  walk  more 
than  a  few  rods,  or  raise  with  his  hands  more  than  a 
few  pounds'  weight  without  bringing  on  severe  distress, 
from  heart  disease."  As  an  illustration  of  his  marked 
fidelity  to  duty,  it  was  told  of  him  that  "after  a  long 
day's  ride  of  ten  hours,  staying  at  a  miserable  hut,  wea- 
ried and  sick,  he  would  call  all  the  family  together,  read 
a  chapter  in  the  Bible  by  firelight,  sing  a  hymn  from 
memory,  and  offer  a  prayer."  Well  might  it  be  said 
of  him  that  few  ministers  of  Christ  have  labored  more 
faithfully  or  successfully.  He  was  eminently  a  man 
of  prayer,  and  herein  lay  the  secret  of  his  success. 

A  sermon  commemorative  of  the  character  and  la- 
bors of  Mr.  Wright  was  preached  by  his  colleague,  Rev. 
Mr.  Kingsbury,  from  the  text,  "He  being  dead,  yet 
speaketh."  After  speaking  of  Mr.  Wright  as  a  man 
of  prayer  and  of  his  piety  as  of  a  high  order,  Mr.  Kings- 
bury  enumerated  as  the  distinguishing  traits  of  his 
character  self-government,  modesty,  kindness  of  man- 
ner, and  dignity  of  deportment,  saying,  in  addition, 
that  he  spent  his  life,  not  in  seeking  his  own  advantage, 
but  in  doing  good  to  others. 

[79] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

Mr.  Wright  was  married  at  Charleston,  South  Car- 
olina, March  23,  1825,  to  Miss  Harriet  Bunce,  daugh- 
ter of  Jared  Bunce,  Esq.,  of  Philadelphia.  Mrs. 
Wright  survived  her  husband,  and  continued  work  in 
the  mission  until  June  5,  1855,  when  she  was  released 
from  the  services  of  the  Board.  She  died  at  Lake  City, 
Florida,  November,  1862. 


CLASS  OF  1813 

ELISHA  POPE  SWIFT  was  born  in  Williamstown, 
Massachusetts,  August  12,  1792.  He  was  the  son  of 
Rev.  Seth  and  Lucy  (Elliot)  Swift,  and  grandson  of 
Jireh  and  Abigail  Swift,  and  of  Nathan  and  Clarina 
Elliot,  of  Kent,  Connecticut.  On  his  mother's  side  his 
great-grandfather  was  Rev.  Jared  Eliot  (Yale  1706), 
and  his  great-grandmother  was  a  sister  of  Governor 
Matthew  Griswold  of  Connecticut.  His  mother  was 
a  lineal  descendant  of  the  famous  Puritan  missionary, 
Rev.  John  Eliot.  His  uncle,  Rev.  Job  Swift,  was 
graduated  at  Yale  in  1765,  was  a  trustee  of  Dartmouth 
College  from  1788  to  1801,  of  Williams  College  from 
1794  to  1802,  and  of  Middlebury  College  from  1802 
until  his  death,  and  received  the  honorary  degree  of 
Doctor  of  Divinity  from  Williams  in  1803.  Rev. 
Seth  Swift,  the  father  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was 
graduated  at  Yale  in  1774,  and  on  May  26,  1779, 
was  ordained  pastor  of  the  Congregational  Church  in 
Williamstown,  Massachusetts,  which  position  he  held 
for  a  period  of  nearly  twenty-eight  years,  until  the  time 
of  his  death  in  1807.  He  was  one  of  the  original  trus- 
tees of  Williams  College  and  held  this  office  until  his 
death.  The  inscription  on  his  gravestone  describes  him 
as  "possessing  an  amiable  temper,  strong  mental 
powers,  and  all  the  Christian  virtues."  Ebenezer  Kel- 
logg (Yale  1810),  who  was  Professor  of  Ancient  Lan- 

[80] 


Biographical  Sketches 

guages  in  Williams  from  1815  to  1844,  describes  him  as 
"a  little  above  the  middle  stature,  with  a  strong  frame, 
and  large  features ;  not  at  all  studious  of  the  graces  of 
dress,  manners  or  conversation,  warm  and  open  in  his 
temper,  evangelical  in  his  religious  views,  serious  in  the 
general  tone  of  his  intercourse  with  his  people,  zealous 
in  the  labors  of  the  ministry,  decided  in  his  opinions,  and 
prudent  and  energetic  in  his  measures."  Two  of  his  sons 
were  graduated  here,  in  1804  and  1813,  respectively, 
and  became  ministers  of  the  gospel.  One  daughter 
married  Rev.  Sylvester  Selden  (Williams  1807). 

Elisha  Pope  Swift  entered  college  as  a  Sophomore 
and  had  among  his  classmates  William  Cullen  Bryant 
and  Charles  Frederic  Sedgwick.  He  was  a  member  of 
the  Mills  Theological  Society,  and  of  the  Philotechnian 
Society,  of  which  he  was  one  of  the  presidents.  At 
graduation  he  held  a  disputation  with  his  classmate, 
Martin  L.  Stow,  on  the  question,  "Have  the  Arts  and 
Sciences  contributed  more  than  the  Christian  Religion 
to  the  Cause  of  Civil  Liberty?" 

In  July  of  his  Senior  year  he  made  a  profession  of 
religion  at  Stockbridge,  Massachusetts,  and  united  with 
the  church  of  which  his  brother,  Rev.  Ephraim  G. 
Swift  (Williams  1804),  was  colleague  pastor.  He 
completed  his  theological  course  at  Princeton  in  1816. 
Very  soon  after  his  uniting  with  the  church  he  seems  to 
have  taken  a  very  active  part  in  the  movements  then 
in  progress  with  reference  to  the  foreign  mission  work. 
In  a  paper  discovered  since  his  death,  and  bitten  dur- 
ing his  connection  with  the  seminary,  he  gives  expres- 
sion to  the  great  anxiety  he  felt  in  view  of  acting  as  an 
ambassador  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  especially  in  prospect 
of  going  to  Eastern  Asia  to  make  known  the  gospel  to 
the  heathen.  On  September  3,  1817,  he,  along  with 
three  others,  was  ordained  a  foreign  missionary,  the  ser- 
mon on  the  occasion  being  preached  by  Rev.  Lyman 

[81] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

Beecher,  D.D.  (Yale  1797).  From  November,  1817, 
to  March,  1818,  he  was  engaged  in  a  missionary  agency, 
under  the  direction  of  the  American  Board,  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Worcester  being  at  that  time  its  Secretary.  Mr. 
Swift's  special  work  was  collecting  funds  and  awak- 
ening the  people  to  the  claims  of  the  missionary  enter- 
prise through  Ohio,  Indiana,  Kentucky,  Virginia,  and 
some  other  States.  He  seems  to  have  been  prevented 
from  going  abroad  by  the  serious  and  long  continued 
illness  of  his  wife's  mother.  But  the  missionary  spirit 
never  forsook  him,  and  it  appeared  afterward  that  the 
descendant  of  John  Eliot  had  been  kept  at  home,  as  Sam- 
uel J.  Mills  had  been,  that  he  might  impart  to  the  church 
some  of  the  fire  that  burned  in  himself.  It  is  because 
of  the  work  which  he  did  for  the  cause  of  missions,  es- 
pecially as  Foreign  Secretary  of  the  Presbyterian 
Board,  that  a  sketch  of  him  is  given  in  this  volume.  He 
began  his  labors  October  26,  1818,  in  Dover  and  Mil- 
ford,  Delaware,  where  he  spent  a  year.  In  1819,  he 
received  and  accepted  an  invitation  to  become  pastor 
of  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church  of  Pittsburgh, 
Pennsylvania,  and  was  installed  on  November  5  by  a 
committee  of  the  Presbytery  of  Redstone.  In  1822  he 
made  a  missionary  tour  among  the  Indians  on  the 
Maumee,  in  company  with  the  Rev.  Michael  Law,  at 
that  time  pastor  of  Montour,  who  died  before  his  return. 
Mr.  Swift  was  among  the  very  first  to  advocate  the 
establishment  of  the  Western  Foreign  Missionary  Soci- 
ety by  the  Synod  of  Pittsburgh,  from  which  sprang  the 
Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 
Though  he  was  tenderly  attached  to  his  people,  and  was 
greatly  loved  by  them  in  turn,  he  consented  to  resign 
his  pastorate  that  he  might  devote  himself  to  the  new 
enterprise.  He  entered  upon  his  labors  as  Secretary 
of  the  Western  Foreign  Missionary  Society,  March  1, 
1833.  By  the  energy  and  enthusiasm  with  which  he 

[82] 


DR.  JONAS  KING 

Beirut,  1822-1825 


Biographical  Sketches 

engaged  in  this  new  enterprise,  he  gave  it  an  impulse 
that  was  felt  throughout  the  Presbyterian  Church  of 
this  country,  among  the  Indians  of  the  West,  and  in 
Asia  and  Africa.  He  was  ready  at  all  times  to  advo- 
cate with  his  remarkable  power  every  good  cause,  but, 
as  was  said  of  him,  "the  very  mention  of  foreign  missions 
fired  his  soul  with  quenchless  ardor  and  made  his  voice 
the  sound  of  a  trumpet  calling  to  conflict  and  victory." 
His  name  will  remain  indissolubly  connected  with  the 
history  of  the  work  done  by  the  Presbyterian  Church  in 
the  foreign  field. 

On  October  9,  1835,  he  was  installed  pastor  of  the 
First  Presbyterian  Church,  Allegheny,  Pennsylvania, 
which  position  he  held  until  the  day  of  his  death,  April 
3,  1865,  in  the  73d  year  of  his  age. 

He  was  for  a  short  time  professor  in  the  Western 
University  of  Pennsylvania,  and  was  also  closely  iden- 
tified with  the  origin  and  growth  of  the  Western  Theo- 
logical Seminary,  in  which  he  was,  for  a  time,  one  of  its 
instructors,  and  at  the  time  of  his  death  President  of 
its  Board  of  Trustees.  He  took  the  deepest  interest  in 
the  young  men  of  that  institution,  ever  ready  to  give 
them  counsel  and  help,  and  was  regarded  by  them  with 
the  greatest  veneration  and  affection. 

He  received  the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Divinity  from  Jefferson  College  in  1837. 

The  family  of  Dr.  Swift  was  eminently  a  ministerial 
one.  His  father  and  an  older  brother  were  Congrega- 
tional ministers ;  two  of  his  sons  and  a  son-in-law  were 
Presbyterian  ministers;  and  two  grandsons,  sons  of  his 
son-in-law,  also  entered  the  ministry. 


CLASS  OF  1816 

JONAS  KING,  born  in  Hawley,  Massachusetts,  July 
29,  1792,  was  the  son  of  Jonas  and  Abigail  (Leonard) 

[88] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

King,  and  grandson  of  Thomas  and  Abigail  (Warri- 
ner)  King.  He  was  the  son  of  pious  parents,  the 
father,  who  was  a  farmer,  being  noted  for  his  love  of 
the  Sacred  Scriptures  and  rigid  adherence  to  their 
teachings.  Under  his  instruction,  Jonas  read  the 
Bible  through  between  the  ages  of  four  and  six  and, 
after  that,  once  a  year  to  the  age  of  sixteen.  He  was 
converted  at  the  age  of  fifteen.  He  was  eager  to  learn, 
but  his  parents  were  in  humble  circumstances,  and  con- 
sequently unable  to  give  him  a  college  education.  He  is 
said  to  have  learned  English  grammar  while  hoeing 
corn.  He  read  the  twelve  books  of  the  ^Eneid  in  two 
months  and  the  New  Testament  in  Greek  in  six  weeks. 
The  story  is  told  how,  when  fifteen  years  old,  he 
tramped  one  cold  December  morning  to  Plainfield, 
Massachusetts,  where  William  H.  Maynard,  who  subse- 
quently (1810)  graduated  from  Williams  College,  was 
teaching  school.  On  his  arrival  at  the  school-house,  Mr. 
Maynard  found  the  boy  already  there,  and  learned 
from  him  that  he  had  come  to  consult  the  teacher  as 
to  how  he  might  obtain  an  education.  Mr.  Maynard 
found  that  the  boy  had  no  acquaintances  or  friends  who 
could  aid  him,  and  discovered  that  while  young  King 
showed  no  unusual  brilliancy  he  was  possessed  of  good 
sense  and  a  resolute  purpose.  The  result  of  the  inter- 
view was  that  Mr.  Maynard  made  arrangements  for 
having  him  board  in  the  family  with  himself,  the  lad 
paying  his  way  by  manual  labor.  He  made  good  prog- 
ress in  his  studies  and  after  a  time  continued  his  further 
preparation  for  college  with  Rev.  Moses  Hallock  of 
Plainfield.  In  college  he  earned  his  tuition  by  teach- 
ing school.  Two  of  his  classmates  were  Worthington 
Smith,  who  became  President  of  the  University  of  Ver- 
mont, and  Stephen  Taylor,  who  became  a  professor  in 
the  Union  Theological  Seminary  of  Virginia.  Eben- 
ezer  Emerson,  William  Richards,  and  Emory  Wash- 


Biographical  Sketches 

burne  were  among  his  college  mates.  He  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Mills  Theological  Society  and  of  the  Philo- 
technian  Society,  of  which  he  was  one  of  the  presidents. 
He  was  a  superior  scholar,  graduating  with  Phi  Beta 
Kappa  rank.  At  Commencement,  September  4,  1816, 
he  had  a  Philosophical  Oration,  the  subject  of  his  ad- 
dress being  "Caloric,"  and  with  eight  others  took  part 
in  a  dialogue.  After  the  completion  of  his  college 
course,  he  entered  Andover  Theological  Seminary, 
where  he  was  graduated  in  1819.  On  leaving  the  sem- 
inary he  was  employed  as  a  home  missionary  for  a  short 
time  in  Massachusetts,  and  subsequently  as  a  city  mis- 
sionary in  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  where,  on  De- 
cember 17,  1819,  he  was  ordained  as  an  evangelist  by 
the  Congregational  Association.  For  a  year  he  was  a 
missionary  among  the  seamen  and  negroes,  and  in  1821 
he  was  a  resident  licentiate  at  Andover  Seminary. 

While  he  was  pursuing  his  regular  course  in  the  sem- 
inary his  mind  had  been  strongly  drawn  to  foreign  mis- 
sion work  and  he  was  possessed  with  a  desire  to  go  to 
Europe  to  study  the  Arabic  and  then  enter  some  for- 
eign mission  field  that  might  be  open, — among  the  Ara- 
bians, perhaps,  or  Persians.  Having  decided  to  study 
in  Paris  under  the  celebrated  De  Sacy,  on  the  eve  of 
his  departure  he  was  elected  Professor  of  Oriental  Lan- 
guages in  Amherst  College.  Being  advised  to  accept 
this  appointment,  he  sailed  for  Paris  August  18,  1821. 
He  had  been  engaged  in  his  studies  but  a  short  time 
when  he  received  a  pressing  invitation  from  Pliny  Fisk, 
— Rev.  Levi  Parsons  having  died, — to  join  him  in  mis- 
sion work  in  the  Holy  Land.  It  is  an  interesting  coin- 
cidence that  these  three  persons, — Fisk,  King,  and  Par- 
sons,— who  were  the  first  three  American  missionaries 
to  be  sent  to  Jerusalem,  were  born  in  what  was  then 
the  same  county,  and  within  twenty-five  miles  of  each 
other,  in  the  same  year  (1792),  and  within  thirty-five 

[85] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

days  of  the  same  time.  It  was  of  the  so-called  "moun- 
tain towns"  of  that  same  old  county  of  Hampshire  that 
the  remark  has  been  made  that  they  "have  furnished 
to  the  profession,  and  particularly  to  the  ministry,  a 
larger  number  of  young  men  than  almost  any  other  sec- 
tion of  the  country,  in  proportion  to  their  population." 
Not  unnaturally  have  those  elevated  and  comparatively 
rude  regions  of  New  England  suggested  to  writers  the 
Roman  poet's  description  of  ancient  Numidia — leonum 
arida  nutria.  In  accordance  with  the  request  of  Mr. 
Fisk,  Mr.  King  offered  his  services  to  the  American 
Board  for  three  years,  and  friends  in  Europe  having 
guaranteed  his  expenses,  on  September  30,  1822,  he  left 
Paris  for  Malta.  The  journal  he  kept  during  this  jour- 
ney glows  with  the  zeal  with  which  he  entered  upon 
his  missionary  life  and  shows  how  he  obeyed  the  apos- 
tle's injunction  to  preach  the  gospel  and  be  instant 
in  season  and  out  of  season.  He  not  only  talked  of  the 
Christian  life  with  his  fellow  travellers,  but  he  preached 
and  distributed  Bibles  and  tracts  among  the  people 
wherever  he  stopped.  He  was  also  alive  to  anything 
of  historic  interest  in  the  places  through  which  they 
passed.  At  one  time  he  writes:  "At  five  o'clock  we  ar- 
rived at  Fontenay,  where  we  dined.  After  dinner,  I 
visited  the  old  stone  bridge,  said  to  have  been  built  in 
the  time  of  Julius  Caesar.  Near  it  stands  a  small  house, 
said  to  have  been  erected  at  the  same  time.  The  stone 
columns  in  front  of  it  bear  marks  of  high  antiquity. 
Here,  said  I,  where  Julius  Csesar  brought  war  and  des- 
olation, I  will  endeavor  to  do  something  to  promote  the 
Kingdom  of  the  Prince  of  Peace."  When  sailing  out 
of  Marseilles,  and  France,  where  he  had  spent  an  inter- 
esting year,  was  receding  from  view,  his  record  is: 
"Land  of  science  and  of  sin,  of  gaiety  and  pleasure! 
I  bid  thee  farewell!  .  .  .  Thou  hast  within  thy  bosom 
all  that  can  gratify  genius,  and  taste,  and  sense.  Oh, 

[86] 


Biographical  Sketches 

when  shall  the  spirit  of  Massillon  rest  upon  thy  priests ! 
When  shall  the  light  of  millennial  glory  dawn  upon  thy 
population!  With  fervent  prayers  for  thy  prosperity, 
I  bid  thee  farewell." 

From  Malta,  where  he  was  joined  by  other  mission- 
aries, the  journey  lay  to  Alexandria,  whence,  after 
visiting  Upper  Egypt,  the  party  went  by  way  of 
the  Desert  to  Jerusalem.  An  extract  from  the  first 
letter  written  by  Mr.  King  after  his  arrival  tells  of  the 
sort  of  work  in  which  the  missionaries  engaged  and  the 
promptness  with  which  they  began  it:  "Mr.  Fisk  and 
myself  have  taken  lodgings  on  Mount  Calvary,  in  one 
of  the  Greek  convents  called  the  'Convent  of  the  Arch- 
angel.' Mr.  Wolff  has  taken  lodgings  with  his  breth- 
ren, the  Jews,  to  whom  he  daily  expounds  Moses  and 
the  Prophets,  'persuading  them  concerning  Jesus  from 
morning  till  evening.'  .  .  .  Our  situation  here  is  tran- 
quil, and  our  prospects  as  favorable  as  we  could  ex- 
pect. Since  our  arrival  we  have  sold  about  seventy, 
and  given  away  about  forty,  New  Testaments,  besides 
between  500  and  600  tracts."  The  labors  of  the  mis- 
sionaries were  not  confined  to  Jerusalem,  but  extended 
throughout  Palestine  and  Syria,  and  among  not  only 
Jews,  but  Mussulmans,  Maronites,  Greek  and  Roman 
Catholics,  and  others.  Of  course,  as  was  to  be  expected, 
the  missionaries  encountered  not  only  vigorous  opposi- 
tion but  persecution  from  such  a  variety  of  religions, 
and  sometimes  they  had  to  flee  from  the  soldiers  of 
pashas. 

Mr.  King's  term  of  service  having  expired,  on  Au- 
gust 26,  1825,  after  three  years  of  active  and  useful 
missionary  labors,  he  left  Syria  for  his  return  home- 
ward. From  1822  to  1825,  Mr.  King  and  his  associ- 
ates, besides  their  preaching,  teaching,  and  translating, 
had  distributed  nearly  4000  copies  of  the  Scriptures, 
and  about  20,000  tracts.  On  his  leaving  his  field,  Mr, 

[87] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

King  wrote  to  his  friends  in  Palestine  and  Syria  a  fare- 
well letter,  which  was  translated  into  Arabic  and  widely 
circulated.  The  letter,  in  which  he  states  his  reasons 
why  he  could  not  join  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  ex- 
cited no  little  attention  and,  as  will  be  seen,  brought 
alarm  to  the  hierarchy  of  every  sect. 

After  leaving  his  field,  he  resided  for  some  months 
in  Smyrna,  where  he  did  much  service  for  the  Greeks 
and  made  good  progress  in  the  modern  Greek  lan- 
guage. After  visiting  Constantinople,  where  he  was 
received  with  great  kindness  by  several  high  Greek 
ecclesiastics,  he  returned,  by  way  of  France  and  Eng- 
land, to  America,  reaching  home  at  the  close  of  the 
summer  of  1827.  Soon  after  the  annual  meeting  of  the 
Board  he  made  a  tour  as  agent  through  the  Southern 
and  Middle  States,  which  occupied  him  till  April  of 
the  following  year. 

About  this  time  the  Ladies'  Greek  Committee  of 
New  York  prepared  a  ship-load  of  food  and  clothing 
for  the  afflicted  Greeks,  and  invited  Mr.  King  to  be 
their  almoner  and  also  their  missionary  to  Greece.  Re- 
signing his  professorship  in  Amherst  and  declining  a 
call  to  Yale,  he  embarked  from  New  York  early  in 
June,  1828,  reaching  Poros  July  28.  He  visited  many 
important  places,  relieving  want,  establishing  schools, 
and  preaching  Christ.  In  this  work  he  was  favored  by 
people,  priests,  and  the  President  of  Greece. 

On  July  22,  1829,  he  was  married  by  Rev.  Dr.  Ru- 
fus  Anderson,  at  Tenos,  to  Annetta  Aspasia  Mengous, 
a  Smyrniote  lady  of  influence,  of  Greek  parentage, 
whose  acquaintance  he  had  formed  years  before,  and 
who  proved  an  efficient  helper  in  his  mission  work.  He 
and  his  wife  at  first  opened  a  school  for  girls  at  Tenos, 
which,  though  opposed  by  officers  of  the  Church,  was 
on  the  whole  successful.  In  the  autumn  of  1830,  antici- 
pating the  evacuation  of  Athens  by  the  Turks,  Mr, 

[88] 


Biographical  Sketches 

King  visited  that  city  and  arranged  for  his  future  resi- 
dence. In  the  spring  of  the  next  year,  having  resumed 
his  connection  with  the  Board,  he  removed  to  Athens, 
which  now  became  his  permanent  home.  Here  he  soon 
built  a  school-house  in  which  he  had  services  in  Greek 
every  Sunday  till  1860.  He  established  an  "Evangeli- 
cal Gymnasium,"  in  which  he  gave  religious  instruction 
several  times  a  week.  He  also  formed  a  theological 
class  of  Greeks  and  Italians,  some  of  whom  subse- 
quently held  prominent  positions  in  the  Government. 

In  due  time  the  hierarchy  became  alarmed  and  Dr. 
King  was  brought  before  the  Areopagus  charged  with 
reviling  the  "mother  of  God"  and  the  "holy  images." 
His  life  was  threatened  and  at  one  time  a  conspiracy 
of  fifty  men  was  formed  against  him.  He  was  charac- 
terized as  a  hypocrite,  impostor,  deceiver,  and  a  vessel 
of  Satan.  The  case  was  decided  against  him  in  three 
successive  courts.  Then  was  to  come  a  trial  in  the  crim- 
inal court  as  to  the  truth  of  the  charges  and  the  inflic- 
tion of  punishment.  The  trial  was  to  take  place  at 
Syra,  but  so  great  was  the  excitement  that  the  king's 
attorney  decided  against  its  taking  place  on  the  day 
named.  The  British  Ambassador  offered  Dr.  King 
British  protection  in  case  of  need.  Though  the  whole 
subject  rested  for  nearly  a  year,  there  was  only  a  lull 
in  the  storm.  In  1847  a  series  of  articles  appeared  in 
the  leading  paper  of  Athens,  called  the  Age,  designed 
to  excite  prejudice  against  the  missionary  and  to  urge 
the  people  to  stop  the  scandal  of  his  preaching.  By  the 
advice  of  the  king,  made  known  through  the  Swedish 
Minister,  Dr.  King  withdrew  from  the  country  for 
about  a  year,  spending  the  time  in  Geneva  and  other 
European  cities.  He  returned  to  Athens  in  June, 
1848,  and  was  cordially  received  by  many  of  those  who 
had  formerly  opposed  him.  After  about  three  years 
of  comparative  quiet  and  when  he  began  to  be  more  en- 

[89] 


r 


Williams  College  and  Missions 


couraged  in  his  work,  occurred  the  first  new  outbreak 
of  popular  feeling,  when  evil-minded  persons  tried  to 
break  up  a  preaching  service  held  at  his  own  house. 
The  unfurling  of  the  American  flag  at  his  door  dis- 
persed the  crowd.  In  May,  1851,  he  was  called  to 
appear  before  a  judge  to  answer  to  the  charge  of  pros- 
elyting. Other  charges  and  other  trials  followed,  with 
tumults  that  endangered  his  life.  Though  the  final 
charge  of  reviling  the  dogmas  of  the  Eastern  Church 
was  not  proved,  he  was  adjudged  to  be  guilty,  and  con- 
demned to  fifteen  days'  imprisonment,  to  pay  the  costs 
of  court,  and  then  to  be  banished  from  the  Kingdom  of 
Greece.  On  the  9th  of  March  when  he  entered  the 
prison,  where  were  125  other  prisoners  crowded  into 
eleven  small  rooms,  he  wrote :  "My  heart  is  not  sorrow- 
ful, but  full  of  joy.  I  consider  this  as  one  of  the  bright- 
est days  of  my  life.  With  my  whole  heart  I  thank  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  that  I  am  counted  worthy  to  suffer 
shame  for  his  name,  and  for  the  truths  which  He  has 
taught.  .  .  .  My  principal  petition  to  God,  during  all 
these  days  of  excitement  and  triumph  of  the  enemy, 
has  been,  that  the  name  of  the  Lord  may  be  glorified 
in  me,  and  that  the  cause  of  truth  may  finally  prevail." 
This  petition  was  answered.  Having  appealed  to  the 
Areopagus,  Dr.  King  was  removed  from  prison  after 
one  day  and  the  sentence  of  banishment  was  delayed 
by  his  protest  in  the  name  of  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment. The  time  had  come  for  missionaries  to  be  pro- 
tected in  their  just  rights  and  privileges.  Daniel 
Webster  was  Secretary  of  State,  and  George  P.  Marsh, 
then  Minister  Resident  at  Constantinople,  was  ordered 
to  proceed  to  Athens  in  a  ship  of  war  and  inquire  into 
the  case.  Mr.  Marsh  was  instructed  to  communicate  to 
the  Government  of  Greece  the  decided  opinion  of  the 
President  of  the  United  States  "that  Dr.  King  did  not 
have  a  fair  trial,  and  that  consequently  the  sentence  of 


Biographical  Sketches 

banishment  ought  immediately  to  be  revoked."  In  due 
time  the  sentence  of  banishment  was  revoked.  Another 
battle  for  religious  freedom  had  been  fought  and  won. 
Though  occasionally  the  old  enmity  would  appear, 
and  though  he  was  never  entirely  free  from  persecution, 
being  cited  once  or  twice  to  appear  before  the  judicial 
authorities,  and  being  once  anathematized  by  the  Holy 
Synod  of  Athens;  yet  a  manifest  change  had  taken 
place  in  public  sentiment,  and  many  who  had  bit- 
terly opposed  him  became  most  cordial;  and  in  May, 
1864,  the  venerable  missionary  was  invited  by  the 
new  king  to  administer  the  Lord's  Supper  in  the 
palace. 

In  this  struggle  with  the  Greek  hierarchy,  Dr. 
King's  courage  resembled  that  of  Martin  Luther,  to 
whom  he  bore  many  strong  resemblances,  and  whatever 
of  national  reformation  occurred  in  Greece  in  later 
years  must  be  attributed  in  no  small  degree  to  Dr. 
King's  courage  and  firmness  in  his  battle  for  freedom 
to  worship  God.  Very  fittingly  might  be  applied  to 
him  the  lines  of  Browning: 

"One  who  never  turned  his  back  but  marched  breast  forward, 

Never  doubted  clouds  would  break, 
Never    dreamed,    though    right    were    worsted,    wrong    would 

triumph, 

Held  we  fall  to  rise,  are  baffled  to  fight  better, 
Sleep  to  wake." 

In  1864,  his  health  being  much  impaired,  and  re- 
quiring a  change,  Dr.  King  left  Athens,  with  Mrs. 
King,  in  July  of  that  year,  and  in  the  following  month 
reached  the  United  States,  where  they  remained  three 
years. 

On  their  return  to  Greece  in  the  autumn  of  1867, 
Dr.  King  was  happy  in  finding  some  of  his  former  pu- 
pils engaged  in  work  similar  to  his  own.  Among  the 
pupils  were  Messrs.  Kalopathakes  and  Constantine, 

[91] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

who  had  studied  in  the  United  States.  Another  pleas- 
ing event  for  him  was  the  interview  which  had  been  ar- 
ranged for  him  with  the  President  of  the  "Holy  Synod," 
— the  very  man  who,  in  1863,  had  signed  the  accusation 
against  him.  This  interview  was  a  striking  illustration 
of  the  progress  of  public  opinion,  and  well  might  the 
venerable  missionary  write  of  it:  "A  considerable  de- 
gree of  religious  liberty  has  been  gained,  and  a  founda- 
tion has  been  laid,  on  which,  I  trust,  will  one  day  arise 
a  beautiful  structure." 

Dr.  King  died  at  Athens  on  the  22nd  of  May, 
1869,  in  the  77th  year  of  his  age. 

The  striking  characteristics  of  Dr.  King  were  those 
of  the  reformer.  The  battle  he  fought  against  bigotry 
and  intolerance  and  on  behalf  of  religious  liberty,  not 
only  brought  it  about  that,  in  Greece,  "the  Word  of 
God  is  not  bound,"  but  that  battle  has  given  greater 
safety  and  greater  freedom  to  all  missionaries  in  all 
lands. 

He  was  a  thorough  linguist,  having  studied  eleven 
languages,  and  being  able  to  speak  five  with  fluency. 
His  scholarship  was  recognized  by  Amherst  and  Yale 
in  offering  him  professorships,  and  by  Princeton  in 
conferring  upon  him,  in  1832,  the  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Divinity. 

His  original  works  in  Arabic,  Greek,  and  French 
were  ten  in  number,  some  of  them  being  widely  read 
and  translated  into  other  languages.  He  revised  and 
carried  through  the  press  eleven  other  works.  It  has 
been  estimated  that  he  distributed  400,000  copies  of 
Scripture  portions,  religious  tracts,  and  schoolbooks  in 
Greece  and  Turkey,  besides  what  he  scattered  during 
his  travels  in  other  parts  of  Europe,  and  in  Palestine, 
Syria,  and  Egypt.  Through  his  instrumentality  and 
that  of  his  associates,  a  score  of  Greek  men  were  liber- 
ally educated  and  more  than  10,000  Greek  youth  re- 


Biographical  Sketches 

ceived  instruction  at  the  various  mission  schools  in 
Greece  and  Turkey. 

The  journal  which  Dr.  King  kept  of  his  travels  and 
labors  was  published  in  the  current  numbers  of  the  Mis- 
sionary Herald.  Besides  the  journal,  numerous  let- 
ters, and  translations  of  several  religious  books  into 
modern  Greek,  the  following  is  a  partial  list  of  his  pub- 
lished writings: 

"Farewell  Letter  to  his  friends  in  Palestine  and 
Syria"  (1825);  "Defence  of  Jonas  King"  (1845); 
"Exposition  of  an  Apostolic  Church"  (1851);  "Her- 
meneutics  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures"  (1857)  ;  "Synop- 
tical View  of  Palestine  and  Syria,  with  Additions" 
(1859)  ;  "Miscellaneous  Works"  (1859-60). 

Rev.  Dr.  Prime  wrote  concerning  him:  "I  was 
with  him  in  the  midst  of  his  afflictions,  when  the  sen- 
tence of  banishment  hung  over  him  like  the  sword  of 
Damocles  suspended  by  a  hair.  He  was  calm,  and  res- 
olute, and  believing.  I  saw  him  and  heard,  with  a 
throng  of  eager  hearers  at  his  feet  listening  to  him, 
while  he  taught  in  the  city  of  Athens,  higher  wisdom 
than  Aristotle,  with  an  earnestness  and  pathos  that  the 
orators  of  Greece  had  not  surpassed.  There  he  spent 
his  long,  laborious  life.  In  a  single  year  he  distributed 
more  than  700  copies  of  the  Word  of  God.  He  pub- 
lished four  volumes  of  his  own  works  in  their  language. 
A  generation  and  more  passed  away  while  he  taught 
the  way  of  life  by  Jesus  Christ.  One,  and  another,  and 
another  heard  and  believed.  A  reformation  was  be- 
gun there.  They  knew  that  a  prophet  was  in  the  midst 
of  them.  He  did  his  work,  and  has  gone  to  his  reward. 
His  last  words  were,  'About  the  work  of  the  Lord.'  " 


93] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

CLASS  OF  1819 

JOHN  CLARK  BRIGHAM  was  born  in  New  Marl- 
boro', Berkshire  County,  Massachusetts,  February  28, 
1794.  He  was  in  part  fitted  for  college  by  the  Rev. 
Jacob  Catlin,  D.D.  (Yale  1784),  who  was  for  many 
years  pastor  of  the  Congregational  Church  in  New 
Marlboro'.  In  college  he  had  as  classmates  Gerard 
and  William  Allen  Hallock,  and  William  Richards, 
the  missionary,  all  three  of  them  from  the  "hill  town" 
of  Plainfield,  Massachusetts.  He  became  a  member  of 
the  Mills  Theological  Society,  and  of  the  Philotechnian 
Society,  of  which  he  was  one  of  the  presidents.  His 
name  also  appears  in  the  list  of  members  of  the  Philo- 
logian  Society.  He  was  a  superior  student,  and  at 
graduation  he  delivered  the  Salutatory  Oration  in 
Latin,  while  William  Allen  Hallock  had  the  Valedic- 
tory. Brigham  also  took  part  with  two  others — Cyrus 
M.  Lazell  and  Charles  Dillingham — in  a  dialogue  en- 
titled "The  Hermit,  or  Story  of  Manville."  Subse- 
quently the  two  classmates,  Brigham  and  Hallock,  who 
had  been  raised  in  neighboring  towns,  labored  side  by 
side  for  thirty-six  years,  one  as  the  head  of  the  Ameri- 
can Bible  Society,  and  the  other  as  the  head  of  the 
American  Tract  Society.  On  graduation  from  college 
Mr.  Brigham  entered  the  seminary  at  Andover,  where 
he  was  graduated  in  1822.  The  following  year  he  was 
sent  out  by  the  American  Board  on  an  exploring  tour 
to  South  America,  setting  sail  from  Boston  on  July  25, 
in  company  with  Rev.  Theophilus  Parvin,  recently 
from  Princeton  Seminary.  They  arrived  at  Buenos 
Ayres,  October  24,  and  spent  the  remainder  of  the  year 
in  perfecting  their  knowledge  of  the  Spanish  language. 
Mr.  Parvin  engaged  in  teaching  and  preaching  until 
September,  1825,  when  he  returned  to  the  United 
States  to  make  arrangements  for  more  extensive  opera- 
tions. Being  honorably  discharged,  at  his  own  request, 

[94] 


Biographical  Sketches 

from  the  service  of  the  Board,  and  receiving  ordination 
in  Philadelphia  in  January,  1820,  he  returned  early  in 
that  year  to  Buenos  Ayres,  with  press,  printer,  and 
teacher,  and  was  appointed  professor  in  the  university 
there.  Mr.  Brigham  left  Buenos  Ayres  October  20, 
1824,  and,  in  accordance  with  the  original  design  of 
the  mission,  crossed  the  continent  to  the  Pacific.  He 
examined  into  the  state  of  the  Araucanian  Indians,  vis- 
ited Chili  and  Peru,  and  returned  to  the  United  States, 
through  Mexico,  arriving  in  New  York  in  May,  1826. 
He  sold  and  gave  away  many  copies  of  the  Scriptures, 
and  by  conversation  with  persons  in  various  walks  in 
life  gathered  much  valuable  information.  An  account 
of  his  tour,  and  of  his  experiences  with  robbers,  was  pub- 
lished in  the  Missionary  Herald.  One  of  the  results  of 
this  tour  was  to  turn  the  attention  of  the  American 
Bible  Society  to  Mexico,  where,  in  the  opinion  of  Mr. 
Brigham,  in  the  whole  republic,  containing  a  population 
of  7,000,000,  not  more  than  2000  Bibles  had  ever  been 
distributed.  On  his  return,  Mr.  Brigham  was  released, 
July  4,  1826,  from  the  Board,  and  was  appointed  As- 
sistant Secretary  of  the  Bible  Society,  and  in  1826  was 
made  Secretary  in  full.  As  he  was  the  first  man  to  de- 
vote his  whole  time  to  the  interests  of  the  society,  he 
may  be  regarded  as  its  first  secretary.  On  his  assum- 
ing the  office  one  wrote  of  him:  "His  extensive  and 
thorough  acquaintance  with  the  operations  of  the  So- 
ciety, both  domestic  and  foreign,  and  his  long  experi- 
ence combined,  render  him  a  most  valuable  acquisition 
to  the  Bible  cause.  He  is  a  gentleman  of  liberal  and 
enlarged  views.  His  constant  and  unremitting  devo- 
tion to  the  interests  of  an  institution  so  truly  catholic 
and  benevolent  in  its  character,  are  of  such  a  nature  as 
to  produce  the  most  happy  effect  upon  his  mind  and 
heart,  so  that  "sectional  prejudices  and  sectarian  jeal- 
ousies" can  find  no  room  for  admission.  His  Christian 

[05] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

frankness  and  urbanity  are  just  such  as  the  friends  of 
the  Bible  cause  might  expect  from  one  whose  relation 
to  the  Society  gives  him  the  greatest  influence  in  the 
management  of  its  concerns." 

He  was  ordained  October  10,  1832.  For  a  period 
of  thirty-six  years,  Mr.  Brigham  was  the  responsible 
agent  and  director  of  that  important  institution,  and 
had  a  career  of  large  success  and  usefulness.  At  his 
suggestion  the  Society  attempted  the  great  work  of 
supplying  every  family  in  the  United  States  with  a 
copy  of  the  Scriptures.  He  served  the  Society  with 
rare  fidelity  and  devoted  himself  to  accomplishing 
the  work  for  which  it  was  organized  with  an  intelligent 
and  disinterested  perseverance. 

He  died  in  Brooklyn,  New  York,  August  10,  1862. 

He  received  the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Di- 
vinity from  Washington  and  Jefferson  College  in  1843. 

WILLIAM  RICHARDS,  the  seventh  child  and  third 
son  of  James  and  Lydia  (Shaw)  Richards,  was  born  at 
Plainfield,  Massachusetts,  August  22,  1793.  He  was 
a  younger  brother  of  James  Richards,  Jr.,  who  grad- 
uated from  Williams  College  in  1809,  who  had  been  one 
of  the  Men  of  the  Haystack  and  who  subsequently  went 
as  a  missionary  to  Ceylon.  His  grandparents  were  Jo- 
seph and  Sarah  (Whitmarsh)  Richards,  and  Captain 
Ebenezer  and  Ann  (Molson)  Shaw.  The  family  is 
descended  from  William  Richards,  who  came  to  Plym- 
outh before  1633,  and  ultimately  settled  in  Weymouth, 
Massachusetts. 

The  father  was  a  farmer  by  occupation,,  but  was 
also  a  teacher  and  held  many  public  officers.  His 
marked  characteristics  were  honesty,  executive  ability, 
Christian  character,  and  legal  acuteness.  The  mother 
is  described  as  a  most  excellent  woman.  The  parents 
gave  to  their  children  the  best  of  pious  instruction. 

[96] 


Biographical  Sketches 

At  the  age  of  fifteen,  William  became  hopefully 
pious,  and  three  years  later  he  united  with  the  church 
in  his  native  place,  under  the  care  of  the  Rev.  Moses 
Hallock.  His  desire  to  become  a  missionary  was,  prob- 
ably, awakened  by  his  older  brother,  who,  about  the 
time  of  his  graduation,  disclosed  his  plan  for  life  to  the 
younger  brother. 

William  fitted  for  college,  as  his  brother  had  done, 
under  the  instruction  of  his  pastor,  Mr.  Hallock,  and 
entered  Williams  as  a  Freshman  in  1815.  He  had  as 
classmates  two  sons  of  his  pastor,  Gerard  and  William 
Allen  Hallock.  In  college  he  was  a  member  of  the 
Mills  Theological  Society,  and  also  of  the  Philotechnian 
Literary  Society,  of  which  he  was,  for  a  time,  president. 
His  name  also  appears  in  the  list  of  the  Philologian 
Society.  He  was  a  superior  student,  graduating  with 
Phi  Beta  Kappa  rank.  At  Commencement  he  had  a 
Philosophical  Oration,  the  subject  of  his  address  being 
"The  Nature  and  Effects  of  Dew." 

In  the  sketch  of  James  Richards  attention  has  al- 
ready been  called  to  the  large  number  of  students  whom 
Mr.  Hallock  fitted  for  college,  and  to  the  large  percent- 
age of  ministers  among  them.  It  would  be  an  interest- 
ing piece  of  research  work  to  inquire  how  many  profes- 
sional men  have  been  furnished  to  the  country  by  Litch- 
field  County,  Connecticut,  and  the  westernmost  coun- 
ties of  Massachusetts.  The  claim  has  been  made  that, 
with  the  possible  exception  of  New  Hampshire,  the  so- 
called  "hill  towns"  of  Hampshire  (from  which  the  coun- 
ties of  Hampden  and  Franklin  were  separated)  have 
furnished  to  the  professions,  and  particularly  to  the 
ministry,  a  larger  number  of  young  men  than  almost 
any  other  section  of  the  country,  in  proportion  to  their 
population.  A  goodly  percentage  of  those  of  whom 
sketches  are  given  in  the  earlier  part  of  this  volume 
came  from  the  parts  of  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut 

[97] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

just  mentioned.  Much  influence,  doubtless,  must  be  at- 
tributed to  the  location  of  Amherst  and  Williams  Col- 
leges, much  also  to  such  pastors  of  country  churches  as 
Moses  Hallock,  but  much  influence  must  be  attributed 
to  the  rugged  soil  and  mountain  scenery  of  the  hill 
towns  where  "no  pent-up  Utica  contracts  your  powers," 
but  where  the  wide  sweep  of  the  eye  suggests  to  the 
mind  the  wider  interests  of  the  world  at  large. 

After  graduating  in  1819,  Mr.  Richards  pursued 
his  theological  studies  at  Andover.  In  February, 
1822,  the  American  Board  having  planned  to  reinforce 
the  mission  at  the  Sandwich  Islands,  which  had  been 
commenced  the  year  before,  Mr.  Richards  offered  him- 
self for  that  service  and  was  accepted.  He  was  or- 
dained in  New  Haven,  Connecticut,  on  September  12 
of  the  same  year,  with  two  other  missionaries,  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Miller  of  the  Princeton  Theological  Seminary 
preaching  the  sermon.  On  November  19  he,  with  his 
wife,  embarked  at  New  Haven  with  two  other  ordained 
missionaries,  Artemas  Bishop  and  Charles  Samuel 
Stewart,  their  wives  and  four  pious  natives  of  the  Sand- 
wich Islands  who  had  been  educated  in  this  country. 
On  the  evening  before  sailing,  Mr.  Richards  preached 
a  sermon  from  Isaiah  LX,  9:  "Surely  the  isles  shall 
wait  for  me." 

After  a  prosperous  voyage  of  five  months,  during 
which  their  relations  with  the  officers  and  crew  were 
most  harmonious,  and  Sunday  services  with  Bible 
classes  were  maintained,  they  reached  Honolulu  on 
Sunday,  April  27,  1823.  The  missionaries  were  most 
cordially  welcomed,  not  only  by  their  future  associates, 
but  by  several  chiefs  of  the  island.  Messrs.  Richards 
and  Stewart  were  assigned  to  the  station  in  Lahaina, 
on  the  Island  of  Maui,  and  soon  took  up  their  residence 
there.  The  temporary  arrangements  for  shelter  were 
thus  described  by  Mr.  Richards;  "We  are  living  in 

' 


Biographical  Sketches 

houses  built  by  the  heathen  and  presented  to  us.  They 
are  built  in  native  style,  and  consist  of  posts  driven  into 
the  ground,  on  which  small  poles  are  tied  horizontally, 
and  then  long  grass  is  fastened  to  the  poles  by  strings 
which  pass  round  each  bundle.  We  have  no  floors,  and 
no  windows  except  holes  cut  through  the  thatching, 
which  are  closed  by  shutters  without  glass." 

The  importance  of  the  Sandwich  Islands  had  been 
recognized  from  the  time  of  their  first  discovery  by 
Captain  Cook,  in  1778.  Lying  as  they  do  in  a  position 
convenient  to  be  visited  by  whaling  vessels  and  ships 
engaged  in  trade  with  China,  the  Islands  became  the 
residence  of  American  merchants  as  early  as  the  year 
1786.  The  Islands  are  of  volcanic  formation,  and 
among  the  rocky  and  barren  mountains,  some  of  great 
height,  are  valleys  of  great  fertility.  The  climate  is 
also  agreeable. 

A  preparation  for  the  work  of  the  missionaries  had 
been  made  by  a  series  of  remarkable  events  which 
clearly  revealed  a  divine  agency,  and  from  the  very  first 
Mr.  Richards  found  much  to  encourage  his  efforts. 
Kamehameha,  a  king  of  uncommon  capacity,  had 
availed  himself  of  the  advantages  derived  from  inter- 
course with  civilized  nations.  He  had  raised  an  army 
and  created  a  navy,  and  several  of  his  chiefs  had  ac- 
quired a  knowledge  of  the  English  language.  News 
came  of  the  changes  wrought  in  Tahiti  by  a  new  reli- 
gion. Obookiah  and  others  had  received  a  Christian  ed- 
ucation in  the  United  States.  On  the  death  of  Kame- 
hameha, who  had  exercised  an  uncontrolled  despotism 
and  upheld  idolatry,  his  son,  Liholiho,  abolished  the 
whole  system  of  superstition,  while  an  earnest  desire 
was  expressed  for  the  arrival  of  missionaries.  Even 
while  some  of  these  events  were  transpiring  the  first  mis- 
sionaries were  on  their  way  and  arrived  in  March,  1820. 

Soon    after    reaching    his    station,    Mr.    Richards 

[99] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

wrote:  "The  field  for  usefulness  here  is  great;  and  I 
have  never,  for  a  moment  since  I  arrived,  had  a  single 
fear  that  my  usefulness  on  these  Islands  will  be  limited 
by  anything  but  my  own  imperfections.  ...  It  is 
enough  for  me,  that  in  looking  back  I  can  see  clearly 
that  the  finger  of  Providence  pointed  me  to  these  Is- 
lands ;  and  that  in  looking  forward,  I  see  some  prospect 
of  success  and  of  lasting  usefulness."  As  soon  as  he 
had  acquired  such  a  knowledge  of  the  language  as  to 
be  able  to  use  it  in  giving  religious  instruction,  he  found 
many  attentive  hearers.  In  1825  there  was  manifested 
a  remarkable  spirit  of  religious  inquiry,  and  scarcely  an 
hour  of  the  day  passed  without  his  being  interrupted 
by  calls  from  persons  seeking  the  way  of  eternal  life. 
Sometimes  he  was  even  awakened  at  night  to  answer 
these  anxious  inquiries.  In  the  midst  of  this  interest  he 
wrote:  "As  I  was  walking  this  evening,  I  heard  the 
voice  of  prayer  in  six  different  houses,  in  the  course  of 
a  few  rods.  I  think  there  are  now  not  less  than  fifty 
houses  in  Lahaina  where  the  morning  and  evening  sac- 
rifice is  regularly  offered  to  the  true  God."  Several 
houses  of  worship  were  erected,  and  about  800  persons 
were  gathered  in  schools  in  different  parts  of  the  island. 
The  success  of  this  religious  awakening  soon  stirred 
up  a  spirit  of  resistance,  and,  shame  to  relate,  the  re- 
sistance came  from  the  representatives  of  Christian  na- 
tions. The  purpose  of  the  chiefs  to  put  an  end  to  licen- 
tiousness repeatedly  brought  the  lives  of  the  mission- 
aries into  peril  at  the  hands  of  English  and  American 
sailors  and  officers.  The  attitude  of  France  was  scarce- 
ly less  criminal  in  her  attempt  to  force  upon  the  island- 
ers "French  priests  and  French  brandy."  The  heroic 
courage  of  Mr.  Richards,  supported  by  equal  heroism 
in  Mrs.  Richards,  along  with  the  spirit  and  firmness  of 
the  natives,  proved  for  a  time  an  effectual  security. 
But  when  there  came  back  to  the  Islands  the  news  that 

[100] 


Biographical  Sketiehe* 

Mr.  Richards  had  reported  in  the  United  States  the 
criminal  conduct  of  English  and  American  whalers, 
foreign  residents,  in  retaliation,  published  slanderous 
accusations  against  the  missionaries,  which,  of  course, 
were  entirely  without  foundation. 

In  1828  there  began  a  season  of  great  religious  in- 
terest, which  continued  for  two  or  three  years,  and  in 
1830  the  number  of  communicants  amounted  to  300. 
Although  trials  came  to  the  missionaries  from  time  to 
time  from  the  action  of  a  corrupt  king,  yet  Christianity 
had  gained  such  a  hold  upon  the  people  that  its  prog- 
ress could  not  be  checked  even  by  a  king,  until  it  had 
gained  a  triumph,  the  story  of  which  forms  one  of  the 
brightest  pages  in  the  history  of  modern  missions.  One 
of  the  most  prominent  agents  in  bringing  about  this 
glorious  result  was  Mr.  Richards. 

In  1837,  after  fourteen  years  of  labor,  he  made  a 
visit  to  the  United  States,  accompanied  by  his  wife  and 
the  six  oldest  children.  The  health  of  himself  and  his 
wife  made  such  a  change  desirable,  and,  furthermore, 
he  wished  to  provide  for  the  education  of  his  children 
in  this  country.  On  his  return  to  his  post  in  the  spring 
of  1838,  the  king  and  chiefs,  who  felt  the  need  of  re- 
form in  their  government,  asked  Mr.  Richards  to  be- 
come their  teacher,  chaplain,  and  interpreter.  With  the 
consent  of  the  Board,  he  accepted  this  position,  and 
though  he  resigned  his  appointment  as  missionary,  the 
duties  of  which  he  had  discharged  with  signal  success 
for  sixteen  years,  his  labors  among  his  own  church  and 
people  were  not  remitted.  That  he  might  be  better 
able  to  instruct  the  people  in  economic  subjects,  he 
translated  about  this  time  Dr.  Wayland's  Treatise  on 
Political  Economy.  It  was  largely  through  his  efforts 
that  the  old  Feudal  system  was  broken  down  and  the 
people  became  an  independent  nation. 

On  the  organization  of  a  responsible  government, 


ffiilliams  College  and  Missions 

Mr.  Richards  was  sent  as  Ambassador  to  England, 
France,  and  the  United  States.  On  his  return  in 
March,  1845,  after  an  absence  of  about  three  years,  he 
found  a  new  government  had  been  organized,  and  sev- 
eral foreigners  employed.  On  the  earnest  petitions  of 
the  natives  of  all  the  islands,  he  accepted,  somewhat 
against  his  wishes,  the  appointment  as  Minister  of  Pub- 
lic Instruction,  an  office  which  gave  him  a  seat  in  the 
King's  Privy  Council.  As  a  member  of  the  Cabinet, 
he  had  a  larger  influence  with  the  young  king,  prob- 
ably, than  any  other  persons.  In  addition  to  the  dis- 
charge of  the  ordinary  duties  of  a  Cabinet  officer,  he 
preached  regularly  at  the  palace  on  Sunday  evening. 
The  extra  work  devolved  upon  him  in  his  two-fold  rela- 
tions to  the  Church  and  the  State  proved  too  much  for 
his  constitution.  On  the  18th  of  July,  1847,  while  he 
was  at  the  palace  he  was  suddenly  attacked  by  illness 
which  was  brought  on  by  overwork  and  which  proved 
the  harbinger  of  death.  He  died  on  the  7th  of  Novem- 
ber following,  at  the  age  of  54.  His  remains  repose  in 
Lahaina,  near  the  stone  church  which  was  built  under 
his  superintendence,  and  in  which  he  preached  the  gos- 
pel for  nearly  twenty  years. 

While  Mr.  Richards  was  not  distinguished  for 
brilliancy  of  talent,  he  was  plentifully  endowed  with 
what  is  more  rare,  and  what  is  a  most  essential  quality 
in  a  missionary, — common  sense.  A  marked  charac- 
teristic of  him  was  the  zeal  with  which  he  could  work 
for  an  object  which  commended  itself  to  his  moral  judg- 
ment. True  and  frank  in  all  his  dealings,  he  secured 
the  confidence  of  those  with  whom  he  had  to  do.  Along 
with  single-minded  integrity  was  combined  an  absolute 
fearlessness  which  stood  him  in  good  stead  in  many  crit- 
ical circumstances.  His  moral  strength  had  its  source 
in  the  principles  of  religion  and  in  a  piety  which  was 
robust  and  which  had  been  implanted  at  an  early  age. 

[102] 


Biographical  Sketches 

Much  of  his  great  success  as  a  missionary  depended 
upon  his  gaining  not  only  the  confidence  but  also  the 
affection  of  the  natives.  Dr.  Rufus  Anderson,  his 
classmate  in  Andover  Seminary,  writes  on  this  point: 
"He  was  dearly  beloved  by  the  good  people  of  Lahaina, 
who  loaded  him  with  their  simple  presents  when  depart- 
ing for  the  United  States  in  1836;  presenting  them  with 
tears,  and  often  clasping  his  feet  with  loud  lamenta- 
tions, lest  they  should  see  his  face  no  more.  Perhaps 
no  man  has  ever  shared  more  largely  in  the  affections 
of  the  Hawaiian  people  than  did  Mr.  Richards."  One 
evidence  of  the  high  esteem  in  which  he  was  held  is  the 
fact  that  the  king  settled  an  annuity  upon  the  family 
of  Mr.  Richards  after  his  death. 

Mr.  Gerard  Hallock,  a  fellow  townsman  and  class- 
mate, has  left  this  sketch  of  Mr.  Richards:  "He  was 
rather  above  the  average  stature  of  men;  strong  and 
muscular ;  not  specially  attractive  in  person  or  manners, 
but  commanding  confidence  and  respect  by  his  manifest 
integrity,  firmness,  and  energy,  and  gaining  the  affec- 
tions of  those  who  knew  him  intimately  by  his  qualities 
of  mind  and  heart.  His  intellectual  powers  were  of  a 
high  order.  When  at  college,  he  excelled  in  mathemat- 
ics, natural  and  intellectual  philosophy,  and  logic,  while, 
in  the  languages  and  belles  lettres,  he  scarcely  rose 
above  the  common  average.  His  religious  character, 
after  his  conversion,  was  decided, — his  faith  firm,  his 
purposes  steadfast.  As  a  preacher,  he  was  distinguished 
rather  for  energy  and  point  than  for  eloquence  in  the 
common  acceptation  of  the  term.  His  sermons  were 
faithful  exhibitions  of  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus.  He 
sought  rather  to  save  men  than  to  please  them." 

On  October  30,  1822,  Mr.  Richards  married  Cla- 
rissa, daughter  of  Levi  Lyman,  of  Northampton,  Mas- 
sachusetts. She  survived  her  husband  many  years, 
dying  in  New  Haven,  Connecticut,  October  3,  1861, 

[  103  ] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

There  were  born  to  them  eight  children.  Of  these 
William  L.,  the  eldest  son,  was  graduated  at  Jefferson 
College,  and  after  studying  at  the  University  of  New 
York  and  Union  Theological  Seminary,  went  in  the 
autumn  of  1847,  a  missionary  to  China.  Starting  to 
return  to  this  country  on  account  of  ill  health,  he  died 
on  the  homeward  passage,  and  was  buried  in  the  ocean 
off  St.  Helena,  on  the  5th  of  June,  1851.  Two  other 
sons  were  graduated  at  Amherst  College,  one  of  whom 
studied  theology  and  the  other  medicine.  Of  the  chil- 
dren who  grew  up,  married,  and  had  children,  a  daugh- 
ter, Harriet  Kapioloni  Richards,  married  William  S. 
Clark,  who  was  sometime  Professor  of  Chemistry  in 
Amherst  College,  President  of  Amherst  Agricultural 
College,  and  a  Colonel  of  Volunteers,  U.  S.  A.,  in  the 
Civil  War.  A  son  of  President  Clark  is  Professor  Hu- 
bert Lyman  Clark  of  the  Museum  of  Comparative 
Zoology,  in  Harvard  University.  Levi  Lyman  Rich- 
ards, son  of  William  Richards,  having  been  educated 
and  adopted  by  Samuel  Williston  of  Easthampton, 
Massachusetts,  changed  his  name  to  Lyman  Richards 
Williston.  Professor  Samuel  Williston  of  the  Har- 
vard Law  School  is  his  son.  Julia  Maria  Richards,  an- 
other daughter  of  William  Richards,  married  Fisk  P. 
Brewer  (Yale  1852),  a  brother  of  Justice  Brewer,  and 
for  a  long  time  Professor  of  Greek  in  Grinnell  College. 


CLASS  OF  1820 

DWIGHT  BALDWIN,  eldest  son  of  Seth  and  Rhoda 
(Hall)  Baldwin,  was  born  in  Durham,  Connecticut, 
September  29,  1798.  When  he  was  about  four  or  five 
years  of  age  his  parents  removed  to  Durham,  New 
York,  where  he  fitted  for  college  and  from  which  place 
he  entered  Williams  in  1817,  not  remaining  here  to 
graduate,  however,  but  taking  his  Senior  year  at  Yale, 


Biographical  Sketches 

where  he  was  graduated  in  1821.  After  graduation  he 
taught  school  for  some  years  in  Kingston,  Catskill,  and 
Durham,  New  York.  In  1824,  while  teaching  in  Dur- 
ham, he  began  the  study  of  medicine,  but  under  the  in- 
fluence of  the  faithful  preaching  of  Rev.  Dr.  Seth  Wil- 
liston,  he  became  a  Christian  and,  on  uniting  with  the 
church  in  Durham,  he  decided  to  study  for  the  ministry. 
In  1826  he  entered  Auburn  Theological  Seminary, 
where  he  was  graduated  in  1829.  During  his  last  year 
in  the  seminary  he  offered  himself  to  the  American 
Board  as  a  missionary.  He  was  accepted  by  the  Board, 
and,  on  their  advice,  he  attended  a  course  of  medical  lec- 
tures at  Harvard.  He  was  ordained  at  Utica,  New 
York,  October  6,  1830,  by  the  Presbytery  of  Utica. 
On  the  28th  of  December  he  and  his  wife  sailed  from 
New  Bedford  for  Honolulu,  reaching  there  the  follow- 
ing year.  He  was  one  of  the  third  reinforcement  sent 
by  the  Board  to  the  Sandwich  Islands,  the  other  mem- 
bers of  the  company  being  Reuben  Tinker  and  Sheldon 
Dibble,  ordained  missionaries,  and  Andrew  Johnstone, 
assistant  in  secular  affairs,  and  their  wives.  Dr.  Bald- 
win was  first  stationed  at  Waimea,  in  the  interior  of 
Hawaii,  but  his  health  was  so  broken  by  the  three  years 
of  labor  and  hardship  there  that  in  1835  he  removed  to 
Lahaina,  on  the  Island  of  Maui,  where  there  was  a 
warmer  and  drier  climate,  and  which  was  then  the  fa- 
vorite residence  of  the  king.  Dr.  Anderson,  in  the  vol- 
ume on  "The  Hawaiian  Islands,"  has  given  the  follow- 
ing description  of  the  place :  "Lahaina,  as  beheld  from 
the  sea,  presents  a  luxurious  mass  of  tropical  foliage, 
chiefly  the  cocoanut,  kou,  and  banana  trees,  but  with 
barren  heights  in  the  background,  welling  into  a  moun- 
tain. Seen  from  Lahainaluna,  two  miles  above,  it  ap- 
pears a  well- watered  garden,  spreading  itself  three  miles 
along  the  shore.  The  streets  are  narrow,  and  the  town, 
though  greatly  improved  from  what  it  was,  has  less  ap- 

[105] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

pearance  of  civilization  than  Honolulu.  In  former 
years,  when  a  large  number  of  whaling  ships  came  to 
the  Islands  for  supplies,  Lahaina  rivalled  the  metropoli- 
tan port  as  a  place  of  resort.  Its  chief  dependence  at 
present  is  on  the  sugar-cane,  growing  to  great  perfec- 
tion in  its  rich  alluvion.  Its  well-conditioned  stone 
church,  with  galleries,  tower,  and  bell,  and  its  burying- 
ground  adjacent,  where  lie  the  honored  dead,  together 
with  the  large  Christian  audience  on  the  Sabbath,  in- 
terested me  not  a  little.  Some  hundreds  of  communi- 
cants were  present  at  the  Lord's  Supper." 

In  Lahaina,  Dr.  Baldwin's  health,  which  had  been 
greatly  benefited  by  a  voyage  to  the  Society  and 
Georgian  Islands,  was  fully  restored.  Here  he  re- 
mained as  pastor  of  the  church  and  as  physician  to  a 
wide  neighborhood  of  mission  families  until  September, 
1868,  when  he  was  obliged  by  partial  paralysis  to  resign 
his  most  useful  work.  The  church  of  which  he  was 
pastor  was  a  most  important  one,  and  was  blessed,  from 
time  to  time,  with  revivals  of  religion.  In  1845  he  re- 
ported the  addition  of  fifty-five  to  the  church,  with  150 
prospective  candidates.  At  that  time  the  church  had 
about  700  members.  Lahaina  became  very  important 
as  a  station  on  account  of  its  being  visited  so  often  by 
ships  of  different  nations.  Besides  his  labors  as  a  pas- 
tor and  physician,  he  did  much  for  education.  In 
1849  he  reported  the  existence  of  twenty-two  schools 
in  his  field  and  the  erection  during  the  year  of  several 
new  school-houses.  At  the  close  of  the  examinations  of 
that  year,  the  schools  of  Lahaina  and  one  out-station 
united  in  a  public  celebration  and  feast,  at  which  1000 
children  were  present,  and  which  was  honored  by  the 
presence  of  the  Governor  of  Maui,  and  that  of  the  mis- 
sionary brethren  of  Lahainaluna,  with  their  families. 
Dr.  Baldwin  was  also  interested  in  the  formation  of  a 
Lahaina  Bible  Society.  He  also  labored  earnestly  for 

[106] 


Biographical  Sketches 

the  seamen  of  the  ships  which  visited  that  port,  and 
was  instrumental  in  the  building  of  a  seamen's  chapel. 

Some  idea  of  the  progress  made  by  the  natives  in 
civilization  may  be  obtained  from  a  letter  of  Mr.  Bald- 
win, published  in  the  Missionary  Herald  for  1846. 
"For  two  or  three  years  past,  including  spring  and  fall," 
he  writes,  "we  have  had  nearly  400  whale  ships  here 
annually  to  recruit.  These  are  to  be  supplied  with 
water,  hogs,  goats,  bananas,  melons,  pumpkins,  yams, 
turkeys,  ducks,  fowls,  and  beef,  all  which  can  be  had 
in  abundance;  but  the  greatest  article  for  which  they 
come  is  Irish  potatoes,  which  grow  plentifully  in  the 
interior  of  this  island.  This  demand  for  the  produce 
of  the  Islands  encourages  industry;  and  it  brings  in 
clothing  and  other  necessaries  for  the  people,  and  makes 
money  more  abundant  on  this  than  on  other  islands. 
Most  of  the  wealth,  however,  gained  from  all  this  traf- 
fic, goes  into  the  hands  of  foreigners.  Still,  enough  is 
received  by  the  natives  to  enable  them  to  improve  their 
mode  of  living.  Such  improvements  are  constantly 
going  on  among  us.  Among  our  3000  people  there  is 
already  a  considerable  number  of  comfortable  stone 
houses;  there  are  also  100  or  more  built  of  adobes  (dirt 
bricks  dried  in  the  sun),  about  150  families  eat  at  the 
table  in  our  style ;  this  is  a  great  change  from  the  native 
mode  of  eating  on  mats.  Many  sleep  on  foreign  bed- 
steads, or  rather  bedsteads  made  in  foreign  style;  and 
many  have  a  pretty  good  supply  of  chairs,  of  cooking 
utensils,  and  table  furniture.  Some  of  them  have  also 
clocks  in  their  houses,  or  other  time-pieces." 

On  the  failure  of  his  health,  in  1868,  Dr.  Baldwin 
removed  to  Honolulu,  where  he  was  able  for  a  few  years 
to  give  instruction  in  church  history  and  Bible  history 
in  the  native  theological  school.  He  was  compelled 
by  increasing  feebleness  to  give  up  this  work  also,  and 
spent  the  last  few  years  of  his  life  in  the  home  of  his 

[107] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

youngest  daughter,  Mrs.  S.  M.  Damon.  Though  en- 
gaged in  no  specific  work,  he  kept  up  his  interest  in  the 
welfare  of  the  Hawaiian  people,  for  whom  he  had  given 
so  many  of  the  best  years  of  his  life.  He  died  of 
apoplexy  January  3,  1886.  The  funeral,  which  was 
held  in  the  Kawaiahao  church,  was  largely  attended, 
the  services  being  conducted  in  both  English  and  Ha- 
waiian. He  was  buried  in  the  mission  graveyard,  back 
of  the  Kawaiahao  church,  by  the  side  of  his  wife,  who 
had  died  October  2,  1873. 

From  the  very  first  of  his  active  missionary  life,  he 
was  specially  interested  in  all  movements  to  diminish 
the  use  and  sale  of  liquor  and  tobacco.  An  essay 
which  he  wrote  on  this  subject  received  the  prize  of- 
fered at  one  time  in  the  United  States.  Lahaina,  dur- 
ing the  years  of  his  residence  there,  was  a  winter  ren- 
dezvous for  the  Pacific  whaling  fleet,  and  his  house  ever 
gave  a  hospitable  welcome  to  all  sailors.  "Sturdy  and 
fearless,  methodical  and  active,  he  had  the  respect  and 
confidence  of  all  classes." 

The  honorary  degree  of  M.  D.  was  conferred  on 
him  by  Dartmouth  College  in  1859. 

He  married  December  3,  1830,  Charlotte,  daughter 
of  Deacon  Solomon  and  Olive  (Douglass)  Fowler  of 
North  Branford,  Connecticut.  Of  their  eight  children, 
four  sons  and  four  daughters,  two  died  in  infancy.  The 
eldest  son,  David  D  wight  Baldwin,  was  graduated  from 
Yale  College  in  1857,  and  the  eldest  daughter  married 
Hon.  William  De  Witt  Alexander  (Yale  1855),  of 
Honolulu,  at  one  time  President  of  Oahu  College. 


CLASS  OF  1823 

DAVID  OLIVER  ALLEN,  eldest  son  of  Moses  and 
Mehitable  Allen,  was  born  in  Barre,  Massachusetts, 
September  14,  1799.  While  he  was  a  child,  his  parents 

[108] 


Biographical  Sketches 

moved  to  Princeton,  Massachusetts,  where  the  son 
spent  his  youth  on  a  farm,  enjoying  the  usual  advan- 
tages of  a  common  school  education.  At  the  age  of 
seventeen  he  taught  a  winter  school,  and  continued  to 
teach  successfully  several  months  each  year,  till  he  com- 
menced his  professional  studies.  He  entered  this  col- 
lege as  a  Freshman  in  the  autumn  of  1819,  and  after 
remaining  here  two  years  he  removed,  with  other  stu- 
dents, to  Amherst  College,  then  recently  established, 
where  he  was  graduated  in  1823,  in  a  class  of  five, — be- 
ing the  second  class  that  had  left  that  institution.  He 
was,  in  one  respect,  the  oldest  graduate  of  Amherst,  re- 
ceiving the  first  regular  diploma.  At  that  time  Amherst 
could  confer  no  degrees,  because  of  having  obtained 
no  charter.  As  Mr.  Allen  had  engaged  to  take  charge 
of  an  academy  whose  by-laws  required  of  its  principal 
a  college  diploma,  he  went  to  Union  College,  whose 
Commencement  came  a  week  earlier  than  that  at  Am- 
herst ;  and  having  passed  satisfactory  examinations  and 
been  admitted  by  the  faculty  into  the  Senior  class, 
graduated  with  it  and  duly  obtained  his  diploma.  It 
was  during  his  Senior  year,  in  a  time  of  special  reli- 
gious interest,  that  he  first  became  personally  interested 
in  religion,  and  in  the  winter  after  graduation  he  made 
a  public  profession  of  religion  in  Princeton.  After 
leaving  college,  he  had  charge  for  one  year  of  what  is 
now  called  Lawrence  Academy,  in  Groton,  Massachu- 
setts. It  was  during  this  year  that  his  attention  was 
turned  to  the  ministry,  and  in  the  fall  of  1824  he  en- 
tered Andover  Theological  Seminary,  from  which  he 
graduated  in  1827.  On  May  21  of  that  year  he  was 
ordained  at  Westminster,  Massachusetts,  Dr.  Woods 
of  Andover  preaching  the  sermon ;  and  on  the  6th  of  the 
following  month  he,  with  his  wife,  embarked  from  Bos- 
ton, as  a  missionary  of  the  American  Board,  for  Cal- 
cutta, where  he  arrived  on  the  21st  of  September. 

[109] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

After  spending  some  weeks  here,  he  proceeded  to  Bom- 
bay, where  he  arrived  November  27.  He  was  stationed 
here  for  some  years,  engaged  in  preaching  and  estab- 
lishing schools.  In  1831  he,  with  Rev.  Hollis  Read 
(Williams  1826),  visited  the  Deccan  to  ascertain  a 
suitable  place  for  a  new  station.  They  selected  Ahmed- 
nagar,  190  miles  east  of  Bombay.  The  new  station 
was  for  a  time  under  the  care  of  Mr.  Read,  but  subse- 
quently was  given  to  the  charge  of  Mr.  Allen.  After 
the  death  of  Mrs.  Allen,  in  1832,  he  returned  with  his 
orphan  child  to  this  country,  arriving  in  Salem,  May, 
1833.  He  returned  to  his  field  the  same  year.  In  the 
autumn  of  1834  he  visited  Jama,  120  miles  northeast 
of  Ahmednagar,  and  made  a  singular  discovery  of  a 
native  Christian  society  of  forty  or  fifty  members,  with- 
out any  pastor.  They  were  connected  with  the  British 
officers  as  servants,  and  had  come  from  districts  in  the 
Madras  Presidency  which  were  more  or  less  under  mis- 
sionary influence.  On  his  return  journey  from  Jalna 
he  visited  the  celebrated  excavations  at  Ellora,  a  part 
of  his  description  of  which  may  be  read  with  interest. 
"These  excavations,"  he  writes,  "were  designed  as  places 
of  worship.  The  largest  of  them  is  called  Kylas. 
Here  a  court  is  excavated  in  the  mountain,  the  entrance 
into  which  is  through  a  gateway  on  the  west  side,  where 
the  mountain  gradually  slopes  away  to  the  plain.  The 
court  is  247  feet  long,  and  150  feet  wide.  The  height 
of  the  walls,  composed  of  the  living  rock,  varies  from 
thirty  or  forty  to  one  hundred  feet,  where  the  moun- 
tain is  highest  at  the  east  end  of  the  court.  In  these 
walls  are  several  large  excavated  rooms  and  halls,  which 
were  designed  for  purposes  connected  with  the  temple. 
A  large  mass  of  rock  was  left  standing  near  the  middle 
of  the  court,  which  was  then  cut  down  on  all  sides  to  the 
size  of  the  temple.  This  was  then  completed  internally 
by  excavating  the  rooms  requisite  to  complete  the  de- 

[110] 


Biographical  Sketches 

sign.  The  external  sides  of  the  temple,  even  to  the  top, 
which  is  ninety  feet  high,  are  covered  with  images  of 
gods,  men,  and  animals  of  different  sizes,  all  carved  in 
the  rock.  The  walls  and  pillars  in  the  inside  are  also 
covered  with  images  of  various  kinds  and  sizes,  carved 
in  the  same  manner.  In  the  great  hall  four  rows  of 
pillars  are  left  to  support  the  immense  weight  of  the 
rock  above.  Thus  the  temple,  with  all  its  images,  is  it- 
self a  part  of  the  mountain.  The  ceiling  of  the  great 
hall  was  once  covered  with  cement,  on  which  were 
drawn,  in  glowing  colors,  paintings  descriptive  of 
Hindu  mythology." 

During  the  years  1834-1836  Mr.  Allen  made  many 
missionary  tours  for  the  purpose  of  circulating  the 
Scriptures  and  tracts  through  the  Mahratta  country. 
In  the  year  1838  he  revised  an  edition  of  the  whole 
Bible  in  Mahratta,  he  himself  translating  portions  of 
the  Old  Testament,  being  now  the  mission's  editorial 
superintendent  of  the  press,  and  having  been  chosen  a 
member  of  the  committee  of  the  Bombay  Bible  Society. 
The  American  Mission  press  at  Bombay,  with  which 
he  was  connected  many  years,  employed  most  of  the 
time  over  100  persons,  and  printed  annually  from 
8,000,000  to  12,000,000  of  pages.  Besides  the  work 
connected  with  the  press,  and  his  labors  of  preaching, 
itinerating,  and  distributing  tracts  and  the  Scriptures, 
Mr.  Allen  did  much  in  establishing  schools.  In  Decem- 
ber, 1840,  he  reported  that  there  were  in  Bombay  four 
schools  for  boys,  with  over  300  pupils,  and  four  for 
girls,  with  about  100  pupils.  These  arduous  labors  to- 
gether with  the  effects  of  a  warm  climate,  for  twenty- 
five  years,  so  impaired  his  health  that  he  was  advised 
by  physicians  and  the  Prudential  Committee  to  return 
home  for  a  period  of  rest.  This  he  did  in  1853,  mak- 
ing a  short  trip  to  Palestine  and  England,  and  arriving 
in  Boston  in  June  of  that  year.  He  was  never  able  to 


Williams  College  and  Mission* 

resume  his  missionary  labors,  and  after  a  time  his  con- 
nection with  the  Board  was  dissolved.  He  was  enabled 
to  do  some  writing  and  publishing,  and  from  1856  to 
1863  he  preached  at  different  places;  being  one  year 
at  Westford,  and  two  years  at  Wenham,  Massachu- 
setts. He  died  from  congestion  of  the  lungs  July  17, 
1863,  at  Lowell,  Massachusetts,  where  he  had  resided 
since  1860. 

In  his  volume  on  "India,"  Dr.  Anderson  has  this 
to  say  of  him:  "Dr.  Allen  possessed  a  strong  mind  and 
sound  judgment,  and  there  were  great  industry  and 
thoroughness  in  the  use  of  his  powers.  .  .  .  He 
was  familiar  with  the  Mahratta  language,  and  during 
the  twenty  years  of  his  connection  with  the  Translation 
Committee  of  the  Bombay  Bible  Society,  one-half  of 
which  time  he  was  its  Secretary,  he  performed  a  most 
important  service  in  the  revision  of  the  Mahratta 
Scriptures.  The  printing  had  advanced  through  the 
second  book  of  Samuel  when  he  left  Bombay,  and  ar- 
rangements were  made  for  progress  in  the  work  dur- 
ing his  absence.  The  present  Mahratta  version  of  the 
Bible  owes  much  to  his  labors.  His  associates  were  im- 
pressed with  the  value  of  the  influence  he  exerted, 
through  the  press  and  otherwise,  on  the  general  mind  of 
the  Mahratta  people." 

Dr.  Allen  possessed  by  nature  a  great  thirst  for 
knowledge,  and  few  men  were  so  thoroughly  informed, 
not  only  in  the  history  of  our  country,  but  as  to  all  mat- 
ters relating  to  India  and  England.  He  excelled  as 
a  mathematician  and  as  a  linguist,  and  had  a  most  te- 
nacious memory.  He  had  a  mind  which  was  well  bal- 
anced, and  adapted  to  dealing  with  the  principles  of 
philosophy  or  the  practical  details  of  business.  His 
style  of  preaching  wajs  described  as  plain  and  practical, 
— instructive  rather  than  rhetorical. 

In  1854  he  received  from  Amherst  College  the  hon- 

[112] 


Biographical  Sketches 

orary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity;  at  the  time  of  his 
leaving  India  he  was  a  member  of  the  Royal  Asiatic 
Society,  and  for  several  years  before  his  death  he 
was  an  active  member  of  the  American  Oriental 
Society. 

On  the  23d  of  May,  1827,  he  was  married  to  Miss 
Myra  Wood,  daughter  of  Abel  Wood,  Esq.,  at  West- 
minster, Massachusetts.  She  died  in  Bombay,  Febru- 
ary 5,  1831,  leaving  one  child.  She  had  been  a  most 
devoted  and  useful  member  of  the  mission,  and  had  en- 
deared herself  to  all  who  knew  her.  Rev.  John  Wilson, 
a  Scottish  missionary,  preached  the  funeral  sermon. 
An  interesting  memoir  of  Mrs.  Allen  was  published  by 
the  Massachusetts  Sabbath-school  Society  and  had  an 
extensive  circulation. 

He  next  married  Miss  Orpah  Graves,  who  had 
been  connected  for  some  time  with  the  mission  of  the 
Mahrattas.  She  was  a  sister  of  Rev.  Allen  Graves, 
who,  with  his  wife,  Mrs.  Mary  Graves,  had  been  con- 
nected with  the  same  mission  since  1818.  She  died  at 
Bombay  June  5,  1842. 

He  was  married,  thirdly,  in  Bombay,  December  12, 
1843,  to  Miss  Azubah  C.  Condit,  a  sister  of  Mrs. 
Nevius.  She  had  sailed  from  New  York,  in  1836,  with 
her  brother-in-law  and  sister,  as  an  assistant  missionary, 
to  Netherlands,  India,  and  at  the  time  of  her  marriage 
to  Mr.  Allen  had  been  for  some  time  connected  with 
the  mission  of  the  Board  in  Borneo.  She  died  at  Bom- 
bay, after  a  residence  of  only  a  few  months  there,  June 
11,  1844.  An  obituary  notice  of  her  is  in  the  Mission- 
ary HeraJd  for  1844. 

His  only  child,  Myron  O.  Allen,  the  issue  of  the 
first  marriage,  was  graduated  with  high  honors  at  Yale 
in  1852 ;  studied  medicine,  and  died  in  1861,  two  years 
before  his  father,  greatly  lamented  by  all  who  knew 
him. 

[113] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

Besides  his  journal  and  letters  which  appeared  in 
the  Missionary  Herald,  and  several  articles  printed  in 
periodicals,  Dr.  Allen  was  the  author  of  several  useful 
tracts  in  the  Mahratta  language.  In  1856,  he  also 
published  a  "History  of  India,  Ancient  and  Modern," 
an  octavo  volume  of  over  600  pages,  which  was  very 
favorably  received  by  the  press,  both  in  this  country  and 
in  England. 

CLASS  OF  1824 

WILLIAM  HERVEY  was  born  at  Kingsborough, 
Warren  County,  New  York,  January  22,  1799.  He 
entered  college  in  1820,  his  Freshman  year  thus  being 
the  last  year  of  the  administration  of  President  Moore, 
during  all  of  whose  presidency  the  subject  of  the  re- 
moval of  the  college  was  agitated.  In  consequence 
of  this  agitation  the  number  of  students  fell  off,  the 
class  of  1824  numbering  but  fifteen  members.  One  of 
the  members,  however,  was  Mark  Hopkins.  Though 
about  one-half  of  the  students  were  professing  Chris- 
tians, religion  in  the  college  was  at  a  low  ebb.  In  1824, 
however,  a  deep  seriousness  pervaded  the  whole  col- 
lege, but  there  was  only  one  conversion.  Professor 
Albert  Hopkins,  in  his  article  on  "Revivals  of  Religion 
in  Williams  College,"  attributes  to  Professor  Dewey 
the  remark,  "Is  it  possible  that  God  has  shaken  this  col- 
lege to  its  center  to  bring  out  one  conversion?"  To 
this  Professor  Hopkins  replies:  "We  might,  however, 
remark,  as  in  the  case  of  Hall,  that  that  conversion 
was  worth  this;  yes,  and  infinitely  more.  It  took  place 
in  the  person  of  William  Hervey,  who  afterwards  died 
in  India;  and  who,  for  simplicity  and  purity  of  heart 
and  life,  and  devotion  to  the  great  interests  of  the  mis- 
sionary work,  has  had  few  superiors.  His  name  is  em- 
balmed in  the  memory  of  many  here,  who  afterwards 
witnessed  how  holily  and  unblamably  he  behaved  him- 

[114] 


Biographical  Sketches 

self;  and  although  he  fell  an  early  prey  to  death,  it  is 
believed  that  his  life  told  sensibly  on  the  great  work  of 
evangelizing  the  world.  It  was  thought  by  Dr.  Griffin 
that  the  idea  of  the  annual  fast  for  the  conversion  of 
the  world  originated  with  him." 

In  college  Hervey  was  a  member  of  the  Mills  Theo- 
logical Society,  and  of  the  Philotechnian  Society,  of 
which  he  was  one  of  the  presidents,  and  also  one  of  the 
secretaries.  He  was  a  superior  scholar,  and  was  grad- 
uated with  Phi  Beta  Kappa  rank,  his  appointment 
being  a  Philosophical  Oration.  He  was  one  of  the 
speakers  at  Commencement,  September  1,  1824,  the 
subject  of  his  address  being,  "The  Precession  of 
the  Equinoxes."  Mark  Hopkins  was  the  Valedictorian 
of  the  class. 

After  graduation,  Hervey  taught  for  a  year  in; 
Blooming  Grove  and  Albany,  New  York,  when  he  was 
appointed  tutor  in  the  college,  which  position  he  held 
for  the  year  1825-6.  To  tutor  Hervey's  character  and 
influence  was  due  very  much  of  the  success  achieved  in 
carrying  forward  the  revival  of  that  year.  Of  his  influ- 
ence in  that  work,  Professor  Hopkins  says,  "Firm,  con- 
sistent, mild,  yet  ardent,  his  example  was  one 
uncommonly  pure  and  dignified,  and  carried  great 
weight  with  it  at  that  time." 

The  next  three  years  were  spent  in  studying  theol- 
ogy in  the  seminary  at  Princeton.  The  reading  of  the 
life  of  David  Brainerd  while  he  was  in  the  seminary 
is  said  to  have  awakened  in  him  a  desire  to  engage  in 
foreign  mission  work.  He  was  ordained  as  a  mission- 
ary in  Park  Street  Church,  Boston,  in  September,  1829. 
On  June  30,  1830,  he  married  Elizabeth  Hawley 
Smith,  of  Hadley,  Massachusetts,  sister  of  the  wife  of 
Rev.  John  Dunbar  (Williams  1832),  who  was  a  mis- 
sionary to  the  Pawnees  from  1834  to  1847.  On  August 
2,  1830,  he  and  his  wife,  together  with  Hollis  Read 

[115] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

(Williams  1826),  who  had  been  a  college  mate,  and 
William  Ramsey  (Princeton  1826),  with  their  wives, 
embarked  at  Boston  for  Calcutta,  arriving  there  De- 
cember 25,  and  at  Bombay  March  7,  1831.  In  Decem- 
ber of  that  year,  Mr.  Hervey,  along  with  Messrs. 
Graves  and  Read,  and  Babajee,  a  Brahman  convert, 
commenced  the  station  at  Ahmednagar.  This  city, 
which  is  situated  on  the  table-land  of  the  Ghauts,  in  a 
plain  twelve  or  fifteen  miles  northeast  from  Bombay, 
was  an  important  place  for  various  reasons.  It.  was 
estimated  to  have  a  population  of  50,000,  which  was 
increasing  on  account  of  its  having  recently  become  a 
military  station,  near  which  was  a  cantonment  of  about 
1000  English  soldiers,  chiefly  artillery.  In  the  vicinity 
and  easy  of  access  were  many  villages,  containing  each 
from  100  to  several  thousands  of  people.  It  had  been 
once  the  seat  of  the  Mussulman  power  of  that  part  of 
India,  and,  to  judge  from  its  palaces,  mosques,  aque- 
ducts, and  numerous  ruins,  had  been  a  place  of  great 
splendor.  The  mission,  however,  suffered  many  re- 
verses. Mrs.  Hervey  had  died  of  cholera,  May  3,  1831, 
and  Mr.  Hervey  died  of  the  same  disease,  on  May  13, 
of  the  following  year;  and  Mr.  Graves,  unable  to  live 
in  India,  sailed  for  America,  in  August,  with  his  wife 
and  the  orphan  child  of  Mr.  Hervey,  arriving  in  Boston 
January,  1833.  The  Missionary  Hera'd  for  Decem- 
ber, 1832,  contains  a  letter  written  by  his  college  mate, 
Hollis  Read,  to  the  afflicted  parents  of  Mr.  Hervey, 
and  giving  an  account  of  his  last  moments. 

Mr.  Hervey  was  buried  in  the  English  burying- 
ground  at  Ahmednagar.  The  funeral  was  attended 
by  Rev.  Mr.  Jackson,  the  English  chaplain,  who  took 
part  in  the  services;  by  the  commandant  of  the  station, 
the  physician,  and  most  of  the  officers  of  the  military. 

Although  the  period  of  Mr.  Hervey's  service  was 
but  fourteen  months,  that  these  months  were  filled  with 

[116] 


MARK    HOPKINS 


Biographical  Sketches 

unremitting  and  useful  work  may  be  inferred  from 
these  extracts  from  a  joint  letter  written  from  Ahmed- 
nagar  by  Messrs.  Graves,  Hervey,  and  Read:  "Since  we 
came  here,  we  have  had  statedly  three  services  in  Mah- 
ratta,  on  the  Sabbath.  One  early  in  the  morning,  with 
from  150  to  200  blind,  lame,  leprous,  aged,  and  other- 
wise infirm  and  disabled  persons,  who  assemble  to 
receive  grain  furnished  for  their  support  by  the  benevo- 
lence of  the  English  Government.  .  .  .  We  have  one 
service,  for  natives,  at  our  house,  at  10  o'clock  A.  M., 
at  which  we  have  commonly  had  from  ten  to  thirty  per- 
sons present,  most  of  them,  in  some  way,  engaged  in 
our  employment.  The  other  Mahratta  service,  on  the 
Sabbath,  is  held  in  the  afternoon,  in  a  house,  or  shed, 
built  for  travellers,  near  the  bazaar.  The  number  of 
attendants  varies  from  fifteen  to  forty.  .  .  . 

"We  have  had  one  girls'  school  in  operation  about 
two  months;  it  is  generously  supported  by  the  benevo- 
lent ladies  in  this  place." 

Dr.  Anderson,  in  his  volume  on  "India,"  thus  wrote 
of  him:  "Mr.  Hervey's  illness  accomplished  its  painful 
mission  in  a  few  hours,  and  such  was  its  violence  that 
he  was  scarcely  able  to  express  more  than  his  confidence 
of  soon  meeting  his  Redeemer  and  Lord.  He  pos- 
sessed a  fine  and  well-cultivated  mind,  was  able  to 
converse  in  the  language  of  the  country,  and  had  awak- 
ened high  hopes  as  to  his  future  usefulness." 

The  connection  of  Reverend  MARK  HOPKINS,  D.D., 
with  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  For- 
eign Missions  (he  was  president  of  that  society  for 
thirty  years)  and  with  the  college  of  which  the  mis- 
sionaries appreciated  in  this  volume  were  graduates 
(he  was  its  president  for  thirty-six  years)  affords  good 
reason  for  introducing  here  some  account  of  his  rela- 
tions to  the  great  society  under  whose  auspices  many 

[117] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

of  these  graduates  entered  upon  missionary  work.  He 
became  president  of  the  society  in  1857,  a  year  remem- 
bered by  old  men  as  one  of  great  financial  depression. 
He  was  quite  ready  to  resign  the  duties  of  the  office 
years  before  his  death,  but  the  leaders  in  the  society, 
duly  honoring  the  dignity,  tact,  and  power  with  which 
he  presided  over  the  annual  meetings,  were  never  will- 
ing to  accept  the  resignation,  and  his  official  connec- 
tion with  the  society  was  terminated  only  by  his  death 
in  1887. 

His  supreme  interest  was  in  the  establishment  of 
the  Kingdom  of  God.  The  unity  of  the  moral  system 
under  which  we  live,  the  breadth  of  divine  law  and  di- 
vine love,  the  wonderful  adaptation  of  Christianity  to 
bring  men  into  a  condition  of  righteousness  and  peace, 
the  significance  and  grandeur  of  missionary  work,  filled 
a  large  place  in  his  thought.  It  was  the  wide  relations 
of  the  missionary  work  as  the  highest  expression  of  de- 
votion to  the  Divine  Redeemer,  as  the  logical  outcome 
of  the  consecration  of  human  lives  to  the  upbuilding  of 
character  and  to  the  uplifting  of  neglected  and  de- 
graded races,  that  appealed  most  strongly  to  him.  The 
truth  that  Christ  himself  was  the  first  great  missionary 
and  that  no  one  could  be  a  true  Christian  without  affin- 
ity with  the  plainly  missionary  purpose  of  his  life,  was 
constantly  in  his  mind  when  he  confronted  the  difficul- 
ties of  missionary  enterprise.  His  thoughts  moved  in 
dignity  and  calmness  along  the  great  ranges  of  philos- 
ophy and  religion,  and  those  who  heard  his  addresses 
at  the  meetings  of  the  Board  were  always  lifted  from 
the  petty  and  commonplace  to  large  vision  and  stirred 
to  a  nobler  devotion.  He  seemed  to  grasp  conceptions 
of  the  unity  of  the  universe,  never  burdened  by  confus- 
ing details,  never  dismayed  by  anomalies  or  mysteries. 
His  mind  was  always  open  to  the  possibility  of  great 
revelations  in  the  future  which  should  harmonize  appar- 

[118] 


Biographical  Sketches 

ent  contradictions  and  enlarge  our  understanding  of 
the  meaning  of  sentient,  moral  life.  As  illustrating 
both  his  absolute  confidence  in  the  perfection  of  Divine 
government  and  his  expectation  of  revelations  in  char- 
acter, sentences  from  the  address  made  before  the 
Board  at  Columbus  in  1884  may  be  quoted. 

"It  might  seem  as  if  this  perfection  which  can  be 
wrought  out  in  our  humanity  by  Christianity  was  but 
one  form  of  that  perfection  which  is  to  be  revealed 
in  the  works  of  God  throughout  the  vast  dominion  of 
which  I  have  spoken ;  throughout  that  vast  system,  that 
moral  and  social  system,  which  corresponds  in  extent 
with  that  physical  system  which  is  revealed;  and  so  I 
think  that  while  there  shall  be  gathered  at  last  and  pre- 
served, as  Paul  says,  a  holy  church,  and  every  man  shall 
be  "perfect"  and  the  church  shall  be  "spotless,  without 
spot  or  blemish  or  any  such  thing,"  there  will  be  other 
forms  of  perfection  in  other  departments  of  God's  uni- 
verse. And  when  the  great  day  of  restitution  of  all 
things  shall  come  and  God  shall  vindicate  his  govern- 
ment, there  may  be  seen  to  be  coming  in  from  other 
departments  of  the  universe  a  long  procession  of  angelic 
forms,  great  white  legions  from  Sirius,  from  Arcturus, 
and  the  chambers  of  the  South,  gathering  round  the 
throne  of  God  and  that  center  around  which  the  uni- 
verse revolves." 

Long  before  he  wrote  the  lectures  on  "The  Evi- 
dences of  Christianity,"  the  omniscience  and  omnipres- 
ence revealed  in  uniform  physical  law  had  but  one 
meaning  for  him;  these  meant  God,  and  equally  the 
conscience,  obedience  to  which  when  fully  enlightened 
brings  peace, — conscience,  the  supreme  faculty  in  man, 
revealing  moral  law,  meant  God.  Contemplating  the 
universe  as  one  great  whole,  as  revealing  reason  on 
every  side,  he  rose  to  the  conception  of  holiness  and 
blessedness  as  the  ultimate  goal,  and  was  often  inspired 

[119] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

by  the  magnificence  of  God's  dominion,  or,  seeing  the 
degradation  of  humanity,  was  deeply  moved  by  the 
amazing  scheme  of  redemption  and  its  power  to  save. 

That  anything  else  could  reform  society,  that  any 
human  devices  could  transform  degraded  races,  that 
great  enterprises  in  transportation,  manufacture,  com- 
merce, or  scientific  progress,  however  much  they  might 
alleviate  suffering,  promote  comfort,  or  exalt  intellect, 
could  heal  the  wounds  of  sin  or  give  peace  to  one  guilty 
soul,  was  for  his  discerning  mind  an  impossibility.  His 
breadth  of  view,  his  analysis  of  mental  processes,  his 
correct  estimate  of  the  helplessness  of  human  nature  to 
right  itself,  his  presentation  of  the  sublime  meaning  of 
God's  government  as  law,  and  his  love,  made  the  dis- 
courses with  which  we  may  say  the  annual  meetings  of 
the  Board  were  wont  to  close  the  great  feature  of  the 
convention.  There  might  be  a  larger  knowledge  of 
the  conditions  of  individual  missions  than  he  displayed ; 
there  might  be  more  finely  turned  phrases  and  greater 
wealth  of  historical  knowledge  introduced  into  dis- 
course than  he  employed,  but  for  the  enlargement  of 
the  vision  of  his  hearers,  for  the  direct  and  cogent  en- 
forcement of  the  great  meaning  of  salvation  and  of 
missionary  effort  for  that  purpose,  for  the  inspiration 
of  a  vast  audience  by  the  noblest  conceptions  and  to 
the  heartiest  consecration  in  the  work  of  missions,  no 
discourses  could  have  been  more  effective  than  his.  As 
illustrating  both  the  grandeur  of  his  conception  of  the 
Christian  system  and  his  clearness  of  statement  as  to 
what  Christianity  effects  for  the  individual,  and  hence 
its  power  to  transform  any  society,  an  extract  from  the 
address  delivered  at  Lowell  in  1880  (he  was  then  sev- 
enty-eight years  old)  may  be  given. 

"And  one  point  farther.  Not  only  does  Christian- 
ity thus  enable  individuals  and  society  to  reach  their 
highest  possibilities,  but  it  gives  the  highest  conception 

[120] 


Biographical  Sketches 

possible  of  what  those  possibilities  are.  It  gives  a  gran- 
deur to  the  destiny  of  man,  both  individual  and  social, 
which  the  imagination  had  never  conceived  and  never 
could  have  conceived.  In  this  respect  it  is  analogous 
to  nature,  and  stands  over  against  nature  precisely  as 
nature  does  over  against  the  unaided  thought  of  man. 
Not  farther  does  the  universe,  as  revealed  by  the  tele- 
scope in  its  grandeur,  and  by  the  microscope  in  its  mi- 
nuteness arid  finish,  transcend  whatever  has  been  con- 
ceived by  the  unaided  imagination,  than  does  the  Chris- 
tian heaven  transcend  in  knowledge  and  purity  and 
glory  anything  of  which  the  unaided  imagination  had 
conceived.  It  gives  us,  therefore,  the  highest  concep- 
tion possible  of  the  grandeur  and  progress  of  our  na- 
ture, the  very  best. 

"Now  the  difficulty  of  receiving  this  lies  in  its  very 
greatness.  What!  You  take  a  savage,  a  cannibal,  a 
drunkard  from  our  streets?  Yes,  take  one  of  us. 
What!  take  such  creatures  as  we  are,  that  are  going 
down  into  the  dust  of  death,  and  deliver  them  from  sin 
arid  from  evil,  and  raise  them  up  to  a  dignity  and  pu- 
rity and  glory  like  this?  Yes,  just  that.  No  matter 
what  the  incrustations  may  be  upon  the  diamond;  there 
is  power  in  the  glorious  gospel  of  the  blessed  God  to 
fashion  and  to  polish  it,  and  to  set  it  as  a  gem  in  the 
diadem  of  the  Redeemer.  That  is  what  Christianity 
does.  If  we  look  at  a  man,  it  would  seem  to  be  impossi- 
ble. It  is  too  great  to  be  believed.  But  if  we  look  at 
the  love  of  God  in  Jesus  Christ,  it  could  not  be  believed 
if  it  were  not  so  great.  It  is  required  by  that  love  and 
by  the  grandeur  of  the  system  to  be  so  great.  'He  that 
delivered  up  for  us  his  only  begotten  Son,  how  shall 
He  not  with  Him  freely  give  us  all  things?' 

"We  see,  then,  beloved  Christian  friends,  what  that 
result  is  towards  which  God  is  working,  and  for  which 
He  permits  us  to  work  together  with  Him.  We  are 

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Williams  College  and  Missions 

capable  of  producing  changes.  We  can  cause  that  to  be 
which  but  for  us  would  not  have  been.  The  changes 
which  the  children  of  this  world  seek  to  produce  may 
perhaps  all  be  included  in  the  transfer  of  matter  from 
one  place  to  another,  the  transfer  of  property  from  man 
to  man.  That  is  all.  That  is  the  business  of  this  world. 
It  is  a  restless  sea,  always  in  motion,  always  the  same. 
But  we  seek  to  produce  moral  and  spiritual  changes, 
and  we  seek  to  do  three  things. 

"We  seek,  in  the  first  place,  to  do  for  each  indi- 
vidual for  whom  we  labor  the  best  thing.  We  seek  to  do 
for  him  the  greatest  favor  which  it  is  possible  for  one 
human  being  to  do  for  another, — that  is  to  say,  to  lead 
him  to  know  and  follow  Jesus  Christ,  to  lead  him  to  be 
able  to  say,  as  I  would  humbly  say,  'I  know' — no  agnos- 
ticism— 'I  know  whom  I  have  believed,  and  that  He  is 
able  to  keep  that  which  I  have  committed  unto  Him 
against  that  day.' 

"We  wish,  in  the  second  place,  to  found  civiliza- 
tions which  shall  have  so  much  of  intelligence  and  of 
principle  that  they  will  not  collapse  by  their  own  want 
of  inherent  energy ;  that  there  shall  be  no  alternation  of 
civilization,  as  there  always  has  been,  with  barbarism; 
no  alternation  of  oppression  with  anarchy.  And  we 
wish  further  to  provide  material  for  that  higher  social 
state  in  which  there  shall  be  love  and  purity  and  joy 
and  peace  before  the  throne  of  God  forevermore." 

Two  years  before  his  death,  at  the  seventy-fifth  an- 
niversary, in  Boston,  1885,  of  the  founding  of  the 
Board,  he  allowed  himself  to  indulge  in  a  backward 
look,  recalling  his  own  memories  of  the  Board's  work. 
His  striking  figure,  always  commanding  attention,  but 
now  ennobled  by  age,  must  have  greatly  added  to  the 
impressiveness  of  the  reminiscences.  A  few  sentences 
from  this  address  may  be  given.  They  show  very  clearly 
his  long-established  interest,  as  well  as  his  pride  and 

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Biographical  Sketches 

confidence,  in  the  great  missionary  work  done  by  the 
society  and  his  abiding  faith  in  the  transforming  power 
of  Christianity. 

"The  formation  of  the  American  Board  in  1810  I 
do  not  remember,  but  I  do  remember  the  difficulty 
there  was  in  finding  a  place  for  its  first  missionaries.  I 
remember  well  the  sailing  of  the  first  missionaries  to 
the  Sandwich  Islands,  and  the  exultation  there  was, 
when  the  news  came  that  the  natives  had  already  cast 
their  idols  to  the  moles  and  to  the  bats.  From  that  time 
I  have  been  in  sympathy  with  the  movements  of  the 
Board,  have  known  something  of  its  explorations  and 
methods,  and  have  seen  the  whole  heathen  world,  origi- 
nally closed,  opened  to  the  entrance  of  the  gospel.  Dur- 
ing this  period  I  have  known  of  the  debts  of  the  Board, 
its  discouragements,  its  crises,  its  deliverances,  its  tri- 
umphs. I  have  seen  the  old  school  Presbyterian  breth- 
ren part  from  it;  then  our  Dutch  brethren;  then  our 
new  school  Presbyterian  brethren,  taking  with  them 
altogether  churches  much  more  numerous  and  wealthy 
than  our  own,  and  yet  I  have  seen  the  old  Board  hold 
on  its  way  with  no  essential  diminution  of  contributions 
or  of  efficiency  till  now,  in  its  seventy-fifth  year,  and  out 
of  debt,  it  has  expended  more  than  twenty  millions  of 
dollars  in  seeking  to  spread  the  gospel,  and  its  missions 
belt  the  globe. 

"It  is  nothing  to  boast  of  that  this  vast  sum  has 
been  expended  without  loss,  and  up  to  the  present  time 
with  no  suspicion  of  dishonesty.  But  in  times  like  these 
it  may  be  well  to  emphasize  the  fact,  and  to  ask  infidel- 
ity, and  agnosticism,  and  all  kindred  isms,  when  they 
propose  to  show  an  equal  sum,  freely  given,  and  in- 
trusted to  infidels,  without  security,  to  be  spent  for 
benevolent,  or,  if  they  prefer  the  term,  for  altruistic 
purposes." 

Dr.  Hopkins  had  a  fairly  complete  system  of  theo- 

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Williams  College  and  Missions 

logical  doctrine,  but  he  was  never  an  advocate  of  his 
system  as  the  one  perfect  system  of  belief.  He  accepted 
the  great  principle  that  doctrines  may  divide,  but  that 
devotion  to  the  Master  and  the  righteousness  which  that 
devotion  develops  always  unite,  and  at  Pittsfield  in 
1868  he  gave  expression  to  this  principle  in  the  follow- 
ing words: 

"Let  the  whole  race  fix  their  eyes  upon  the  North 
Star  and  march  onwards  with  steady  gaze  upon  that 
luminary,  and  this  march  will  bring  them  together  in 
one  vast  multitude,  over  the  center  of  which  the  object 
of  their  common  regard  burns  in  the  firmament.  They 
are  brought  together  not  because  they  planned  to  meet, 
but  because  they  had  a  common  object  in  view,  and 
let  the  Christians  of  every  name  keep  their  eyes  fixed 
upon  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  divisions  of  Christendom 
will  be  known  no  more." 

When  the  agitation  arose  in  the  Board  with  respect 
to  the  sending  out  of  missionaries  who  had  sympathy 
with  the  belief  that  to  those  who  have  not  known  of 
Christ  in  this  life  He  may  be  made  known  in  a  future 
state,  Dr.  Hopkins  was  not  inclined  to  favor  a  course 
which  would  uniformly  reject  such  applicants.  He  dis- 
sented emphatically  from  the  setting  up  of  a  tribunal 
which  should  maintain  that  all  who  trusted  this  larger 
hope  for  the  multitudes  in  past  ages  who  had  never 
heard  of  Christ  were  never  to  proclaim  the  good  news 
of  God  to  the  perishing  races  beyond  the  seas.  It  was 
not  that  he  accepted  the  new  doctrine  himself.  That  he 
distinctly  denied,  nor  could  it  be  said,  as  was  intimated 
by  the  chief  advocate  of  exclusion,  that  "he  belonged  to 
the  class  chronically,  if  not  constitutionally,  favorable 
to  whatever  is  indefinite  in  theological  statement."  His 
own  beliefs  were  clear  and  definite  and  were  uniformly 
stated  with  remarkable  precision.  He  never  claimed 
omniscience  and  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  the  ques- 

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Biographical  Sketches 

tion  as  to  the  ultimate  destiny  of  those  living  in  the 
world  without  the  knowledge  of  Christ,  which  has  trou- 
bled thinkers  through  all  the  ages,  was  not  without  its 
mystery  to  him.  He  certainly  could  not  bring  himself 
to  say  that  everyone  who  found  in  what  seemed  like  a 
new  speculation  some  relief  from  the  mystery  ought  to 
be  denied  the  privilege  of  doing  all  he  could  to  spread 
the  knowledge  of  Christ.  The  sending  of  one  whose 
heart  moved  his  intellect,  whose  tender  pity  searched 
for  some  escape  from  the  eternal  punishment  of  the 
untold  millions  who  have  died  without  any  knowledge 
of  our  Lord,  did  not  seem  to  him  necessarily  in  every 
case  a  sacrifice  of  essential  principles  or  a  betrayal  of 
the  trust  of  the  churches.  He  favored  the  proposition 
that  the  churches,  those  who  gave  the  money  for  the 
support  of  missions,  in  their  councils  properly  assem- 
bled, should  decide  on  each  individual  applicant  and  not 
hand  the  authority  of  decision  over  to  a  body  whose 
chief  duty  was  the  administration  of  the  funds.  Noth- 
ing could  be  more  foreign  to  the  tendencies  of  the  age 
than  this  erection  of  a  tribunal  over  the  churches.  The 
advocates  of  such  a  central  and  permanent  authority 
certainly  ignored  the  truth  that  those  who  gave  the 
money  for  the  missionary  cause  had  some  rights  as  to 
its  disposition.  Although  the  managers  of  the  society 
did  not  agree  with  Dr.  Hopkins  as  to  these  rights,  and 
the  society  sustained  the  managers,  it  can  hardly  be 
denied  now  that  Dr.  Hopkins  could  not  have  left  a 
nobler  valedictory  than  the  letter  on  this  subject  which 
appeared  in  the  Independent  the  morning  before  he 
died.  In  reading  that  letter  I  have  often  been  re- 
minded of  the  attitude  of  Lincoln  when  the  Southern 
States  had  seceded.  He  summoned  troops  to  the  field, 
but  the  war  was  not,  in  his  mind,  primarily  to  put  an 
end  to  slavery.  He  wished  to  save  the  Union.  If  he 
could  save  it  with  slavery,  he  would;  if  he  could  not 

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Williams  College  and  Missions 

save  it  with  slavery,  slavery  must  go,  but  he  meant  at 
all  hazards  to  preserve  the  Union.  So  Dr.  Hopkins 
insisted  in  that  letter  that  the  real  question  was  either 
not  perceived  or  was  evaded.  "It  was  not  whether  the 
doctrine  is  true  or  false,  but  whether  the  Board  would 
send  out  men  who  had  doubts  respecting  it."  There 
was  a  certain  affinity  in  his  mental  processes  to  those 
of  Lincoln.  The  main  point  for  him  could  not  be  ob- 
scured. Over  and  over  again  in  the  controversy  with 
Douglas,  Lincoln  brought  the  discussion  back  to  the 
main  point  which  Douglas  had  endeavored  to  obscure. 
The  cry  of  heresy  has  always  been  a  potent  word  where- 
with to  suppress  not  merely  heresy  itself  but,  too  often, 
deviation  from  inherited  tradition.  "Humanity  sweeps 
onward,"  and  I  think  to-day  few  would  be  found  to 
deny  that  Dr.  Hopkins,  in  his  final  utterance,  repre- 
sented the  wiser  attitude,  the  sounder  judgment,  as  well 
as  the  nobler  charity. 

The  last  annual  meeting  of  the  Board  which  Dr. 
Hopkins  attended  was  at  Des  Moines,  Iowa.  He  was 
then  eighty- four  years  old  and  carried  into  the  delibera- 
tions of  the  society  the  ripe  wisdom  and  sound  discern- 
ment that  a  long  dealing  with  difficult  problems  and 
with  easily  excited  minds  had  developed.  The  contro- 
versy to  which  I  have  referred  was  then  threatening  to 
disturb,  if  not  to  destroy,  the  harmonious  cooperation 
of  the  warm  friends  of  missions  united  in  that  society. 
With  the  statesmanlike  vision  that  never  failed  him  and 
with  warm  fidelity  to  his  convictions,  he  pleaded  for  the 
maintenance  of  the  principles  of  the  denomination  rep- 
resented in  the  society  and  for  the  catholic  sympathies 
which  faithful  love  of  the  Divine  Master  calls  forth.  He 
had  had  a  great  training  for  just  such  an  emergency 
and  the  imagination  readily  conceives  of  him  as  on  that 
occasion  laying  the  highest  fruits  of  a  patient,  heroic, 
and  useful  life  at  the  feet  of  Him,  likeness  to  whom 

[126] 


Biographical  Sketches 

among  young  men  and  degraded  peoples  he  had  ever 
sought  to  produce. 

The  following  year  he  passed  quietly  away.  He 
died  sitting,  erect  and  stately,  as  if  in  vigorous  man- 
hood. He  was  a  unique  figure  in  all  relations,  and  was 
he  not  commanding  even  in  death?  What  he  was  to  the 
family  and  to  the  college,  that  he  was  to  the  great  mis- 
sionary movement,  always  at  the  head.  "King  of  men" 
"by  the  grace  of  God"  and  leader  of  saints  "by  the  faith 
that  overcometh."  FRANKLIN  CARTER. 


CLASS    OF  1826 

HOLLIS  READ,  son  of  Thomas  and  Betsey  (Merri- 
field)  Read  and  grandson  of  Thomas  Read,  was  born  in 
Newfane,  Vermont,  August  26,  1802.  His  father  was 
a  farmer.  The  marked  characteristics  of  his  parents 
were  piety,  honesty,  industry,  and  frugality.  The  im- 
migrant ancestors  of  Mr.  Read  were  John  Read  and  his 
wife,  Sarah,  who  came  from  Devonshire,  England,  to 
America  in  1630.  John  Read  lived  in  Weymouth, 
Massachusetts,  first,  and  in  1644  settled  in  Rehoboth, 
Massachusetts,  being  one  of  the  original  proprietors  of 
that  town.  Several  of  the  ancestors  held  office  in  church 
and  state,  and  several  in  collateral  lines  were  officers  in 
the  Revolutionary  War. 

Mr.  Read  fitted  for  college  mostly  under  private 
tutors  at  Dummerston  and  West  Brattleboro,  Ver- 
mont. He  entered  college  as  a  Sophomore  in  1823. 
Among  his  classmates  were  Albert  Hopkins,  John 
Morgan,  and  Nicholas  Murray.  During  his  college 
course  there  evidently  prevailed  an  enthusiasm  for  mis- 
sionary service.  This  was  due,  in  part,  to  the  religious 
fervor  of  President  Griffin,  and  in  part  to  the  revival 
of  1825-26.  The  classes  which  were,  for  a  time,  contem- 
poraneous with  that  of  Mr.  Read  sent  eleven  men  into 

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Williams  College  and  Missions 

foreign  fields,  the  class  of  1828  alone  having  five 
members  who  became  missionaries.  Mr.  Read  was  a 
superior  student,  and  at  Commencement  delivered  an 
oration  on  "Antediluvian  Relics." 

After  graduation,  he  taught  a  year  in  the  academy 
at  Bennington,  Vermont,  and  then  spent  two  years  at 
Princeton  Theological  Seminary.  He  was  licensed  to 
preach  by  the  Franklin  Association,  Massachusetts, 
May  13,  1829,  and  then  spent  some  time  at  Andover 
Theological  Seminary.  On  September  24,  1829,  he  was 
ordained  by  Presbytery  at  Old  South  Church,  Boston, 
at  the  same  time  with  William  Hervey  (Williams 
1824). 

On  August  2,  1830,  he  and  his  wife,  along  with 
Messrs.  Hervey  and  Ramsey  and  their  wives,  sailed  for 
Calcutta,  arriving  there  December  25,  of  the  same  year, 
and  reaching  Bombay  March  7.  He  was  a  missionary 
of  the  American  Board  at  Bombay  and  Ahmednagar 
from  1830  to  1835.  On  account  of  the  failure  of  Mrs. 
Read's  health,  he  returned  to  this  country  in  1835,  and 
did  not  again  engage  in  mission  work  abroad.  He, 
however,  spent  two  years  as  agent  of  the  Board,  after 
which  he  served  one  year  as  stated  supply  of  the  Pres- 
byterian church  at  Babylon,  Long  Island,  five  years  as 
pastor  of  the  Congregational  Church  at  Derby,  Con- 
necticut, one  year  as  agent  of  the  American  Tract  So- 
ciety, and  six  years  as  pastor  of  the  Congregational 
Church  at  New  Preston,  Connecticut.  He  then  en- 
gaged in  teaching  four  years  at  Orange,  New  Jersey,  in 
which  period  he  devoted  some  time  to  literary  work, 
and  was  also  agent  of  the  Society  for  the  Conversion  of 
Jews.  After  preaching  nine  years  as  stated  supply  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church  at  Cranford,  New  Jersey,  he 
removed  to  Elizabeth,  New  Jersey,  where  he  rendered 
service  in  the  neighboring  churches.  Besides  the  above- 
named  services,  he  acted,  for  brief  periods,  as  agent  of 

[128] 


Biographical  Sketches 

the  Freedmen's  Relief  Association  and  of  Lincoln  Uni- 
versity. He  subsequently  resided  for  a  time  at  Ben- 
nington,  Vermont,  and  at  Somerville,  New  Jersey. 

After  the  death  of  Mrs.  Read,  February  19,  1883, 
his  health  gradually  failed,  and  the  subsequent  death  of 
his  only  daughter,  who  had  been  the  head  of  a  young 
ladies'  school  in  Elizabeth  for  twenty  years,  was  a  blow 
from  which,  with  his  weight  of  years,  he  did  not  recover. 
He  died  of  asthenia  at  the  home  of  his  only  son,  Rev. 
E.  G.  Read,  D.D.,  of  Somerville,  New  Jersey,  on  April 
7,  1887.  He  was  buried  in  Bennington,  Vermont. 

Although  Mr.  Read's  period  of  service  in  the  for- 
eign field  was  a  comparatively  brief  one,  it  was,  never- 
theless, a  valuable  service.  The  important  station  of 
Ahmednagar  was  first  established  and  occupied  by  him 
in  conjunction  with  Messrs.  Graves  and  Hervey,  and 
Babajee,  a  native  convert.  Of  the  church  which  was 
formed  there  in  the  early  part  of  1833,  Mr.  Read  be- 
came pastor,  and  for  a  time  he  and  Mrs.  Read  were  the 
only  Americans  there.  Mr.  Read  performed  an  im- 
portant work  in  the  way  of  visitation.  He,  with  Baba- 
jee, visited  more  than  fifty  villages  within  a  hundred 
miles  of  their  station,  none  of  which,  with  two  excep- 
tions, had  been  previously  visited  by  a  missionary.  The 
year  1833  was  notable  for  these  journeys.  In  January, 
Mr.  Read  and  Babajee  visited  nineteen  villages  north- 
east of  Ahmednagar  that  had  never  before  been  visited 
by  a  missionary.  In  March,  he  crossed  the  country 
200  miles  to  the  Mahableshwar  Hills.  In  December 
he,  in  company  with  Mr.  Ramsey,  spent  fourteen  days 
in  visiting  mission  schools  on  the  continent,  and  then 
commenced  an  extended  tour  in  Concan  and  Deccan. 
After  a  time,  when  Mr.  Ramsey  returned  to  Bombay, 
Mr.  Read,  in  company  with  Mr.  Allen,  made  other 
extended  tours,  the  whole  distance  travelled  by  him 
being  more  than  700  miles.  From  October,  1833,  to 

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Williams  College  and  Missions 

July,  1834,  Mr.  Read  travelled  about  1100  miles,  and 
preached  in  about  125  towns  and  villages,  in  about  half 
of  which  the  gospel  had  probably  never  been  preached. 
Although  he  travelled  unarmed  and  without  a  guard 
among  a  people  not  many  years  before  addicted  to 
plunder,  he  made  his  journeys  with  safety.  These  jour- 
neys were  undertaken  for  the  purpose  of  preaching  and 
distributing  books  and  tracts. 

The  journal  and  letters  of  Mr.  Read  written  during 
his  journeys  were  published  in  the  Missionary  Herald 
and  are  still  interesting  reading.  The  following  extract 
is  from  a  letter  written  May  25,  1834:  "The  whole  dis- 
tance travelled  during  the  last  season  cannot  be  less 
than  3000  miles,  extending  almost  through  the  length 
and  breadth  of  the  Mahratta  country.  .  .  .  We  have 
not  met  with  the  least  obstacle  in  travelling  in  the  do- 
minions of  the  Nizam,  and  probably  should  not,  had 
we  proceeded  to  Hyderabad.  There  is  perhaps  less  se- 
curity from  marauders  here  than  under  the  English 
government.  We  travelled  without  arms  or  sepoys  and 
met  with  neither  insult  nor  harm.  We  owed  our  security, 
humanly  speaking,  no  doubt,  to  the  humble  style  of 
our  travelling.  An  Englishman,  with  a  large  retinue 
and  the  appearance  of  money  or  plate,  would  not  be 
safe  without  a  guard.  Hence  the  advantage  of  being 
without  'two  coats'  or  a  'scrip.' ' 

During  the  more  than  half  a  century  which  he  lived 
after  returning  to  this  country,  he  was  constantly  occu- 
pied, not  only  in  the  positions  that  have  been  enumer- 
ated, but  in  writing  and  publishing  books. 

An  obituary  notice  contains  this  description  of  the 
man  and  his  striking  characteristics:  "Of  great  height, 
well  built  and  physically  strong  in  his  early  days,  he 
rarely  knew  what  sickness  was  till  old  age  crept  on 
apace.  Of  great  industry  and  perseverance,  in  dead 
earnest  on  all  moral  questions,  he  had  also  an  inquisi- 

[130] 


Biographical  Sketches 

tive  mind  which  ever  delighted  at  the  progress  of  the 
arts  and  sciences.  He  was  full  of  interest  in  new  things 
until  the  last.  A  grand  character  has  fallen  asleep,  and 
all  who  knew  him  loved  him  well." 

He  was  married  in  Bennington,  Vermont,  June  24, 
1830,  to  Caroline,  daughter  of  Aaron  and  Lucinda 
(Moody)  Hubbell,  and  granddaughter  of  Elnathan 
and  Mehitable  (Sherwood)  Hubbell,  and  a  descendant 
from  Richard  Hubbell,  who  came  from  Wales  to  Con- 
necticut between  1645  and  1647.  Their  children  were 
a  daughter,  Catharine  Henrietta  Read,  who  died  in 
1886,  and  a  son,  Rev.  Edward  Griffin  Read,  D.D.,  a 
graduate  of  Princeton  University  (1861),  and  of 
Princeton  Seminary  (1865),  now  residing  in  Plain- 
field,  New  Jersey. 

Mr.  Read  published:  "Read  and  Ramsey's  Journal 
in  India,  edited  by  William  Ramsey"  (Philadelphia, 
1835)  ;  "The  Christian  Brahman,  or  Memoir  of  the 
Converted  Brahman,  Babajee,  2  Vols."  (1836)  ;  "The 
Hand  of  God  in  History:  or  Divine  Providence  his- 
torically illustrated,"  (1st  Vol.  1849,  2nd  Vol.  1855)  ; 
"Memoirs  and  Sermons  of  Rev.  William  J.  Armstrong, 
D.D.,  late  Secretary  of  the  A.  B.  C.  F.  M."  (1853) ; 
"Commerce  and  Christianity:  A  Prize  Essay;  Subject, 
The  Moral  Power  of  the  Sea;  or  the  Relation  of  Com- 
merce to  the  Spread  of  the  Gospel"  (1853);  "India 
and  Its  People,  Ancient  and  Modern;  Conquests  of 
India;  Moral,  Civil  and  Religious  Conditions;  The  Se- 
poy Mutiny;  illustrated"  (1858) ;  "The  Palace  of  the 
Great  King;  or  the  Power,  Wisdom,  and  Goodness  of 
God  illustrated  in  the  Multiplicity  and  Variety  of  His 
Works"  (1859);  "The  Coming  Crisis  of  the  World; 
or  the  Great  Battle,  and  the  Golden  Age"  (1861); 
"The  Negro  Problem  Solved;  or  Africa  as  she  was, 
as  she  is,  and  as  she  shall  be"  (1864)  ;  "Footprints  of 
Satan"  (1866).  He  also  left  several  books  in  manu- 

[131] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

script.  The  most  notable  and  the  most  widely  circu- 
lated of  his  publications  was  "The  Hand  of  God  in 
History,"  of  which  some  60,000  copies  were  sold  in  this 
country,  and  which  was  reprinted  in  London  and 
Edinburgh. 

CLASS  OF  1827 

NATHAN  BROWN  was  born  in  New  Ipswich,  New 
Hampshire,  June  22,  1807.  He  was  the  oldest  child 
of  Nathan  and  Betsey  (Goldsmith)  Brown,  and  the 
grandson  of  Josiah  and  Sarah  (Wright)  Brown.  A 
brother,  William  Goldsmith  Brown,  was  for  three  years 
a  member  of  the  class  of  1837.  The  ancestry  is  traced 
back  to  John  Brown,  who  came  over  to  this  country 
a  few  years  after  his  brother,  Peter,  of  the  Mayflower, 
and  settled  in  Duxbury,  Massachusetts.  John  Brown, 
the  martyr,  was  probably  a  descendant  of  Peter  of  the 
Mayflower. 

Just  before  the  Revolutionary  War  broke  out,  the 
grandfather,  Josiah,  and  his  brother,  John,  then  young 
men,  removed  with  their  families  from  Concord, 
Massachusetts,  to  New  Ipswich,  where  they  settled  near 
each  other  on  new  land.  They  took  with  them  into  their 
forest  homes,  strength,  energy,  patriotism,  and  strong 
religious  faith.  Josiah  Brown,  the  grandfather,  had 
seen  active  military  service  in  his  younger  days,  being 
first  lieutenant  of  a  company  of  New  Ipswich  min- 
ute-men at  the  breaking  out  of  the  Revolutionary  War. 
He  fought  at  Bunker  Hill,  where  his  company  did  good 
execution,  and  was  the  last  to  leave  the  field.  It  is  also 
believed  that  Lieutenant  Brown  fired  the  final  shot 
before  the  retreat.  This  Josiah  Brown,  in  after  years, 
was  prominent  in  the  affairs  of  the  town. 

The  Brown  family  were  active  in  building  up  a 
church  of  their  own  faith  in  Whitingham,  Vermont,  to 
which  the  parents  of  the  subject  of  our  sketch  had  re- 

[132] 


Biographical  Sketches 

moved  soon  after  his  birth.  Of  this  church  Nathan,  the 
father,  and  Josiah  the  grandfather,  were  deacons.  The 
son  became  a  member  of  this  church  in  very  early  years, 
being  baptized  when  he  was  but  nine  years  of  age.  The 
development  of  his  religious  nature  was  almost  preco- 
cious. The  nice  distinctions  between  right  and  wrong 
were  felt  almost  in  his  infancy,  and  his  first  religious 
impressions  went  back  as  far  as  he  could  remember.  No 
small  factor  in  the  development  of  the  boy's  character 
was  the  influence  of  the  mother,  from  whom  he  inherited 
his  spirituality,  his  opposition  to  all  wrong,  and  his  sym- 
pathy with  the  weak. 

With  the  guidance  of  such  parents,  and  the  compan- 
ionship of  a  brother  and  two  sisters,  enjoying  the  toils 
and  sports  of  pioneer  life,  the  lad  grew  up  in  an  en- 
vironment well  fitted  to  develop  the  homely  virtues  of 
industry,  honesty,  and  kindness.  Being  destined  by 
his  parents  for  a  farmer's  life,  he  worked  in  the  fields  in 
summer  and  attended  school  in  winter.  But  even  when 
engaged  in  manual  labor  his  mind  seemed  absorbed  in 
the  world  of  thought  and  discovery.  Visions  of  a  new 
sort  of  life  were  opened  to  him  by  the  discovery  among 
his  father's  books  of  a  copy  of  "^Esop's  Fables,"  with 
the  Latin  and  English  printed  in  parallel  columns. 
College  came  to  be  thought  of,  and  an  arrangement 
was  made  for  Nathan  to  live  in  the  family  of  Rev. 
Thomas  H.  Wood  (Williams  1799),  the  Congrega- 
tional minister  of  the  adjoining  town  of  Halifax,  to  be 
fitted  for  college,  the  lad  in  payment  doing  "chores" 
about  the  premises.  He  also  aided  himself  by  teaching 
school,  his  first  term  being  at  Monroe,  Massachusetts, 
when  he  was  but  fifteen  years  of  age. 

In  1824,  when  he  was  seventeen,  he  entered  the 
Sophomore  class  at  Williams.  President  Griffin  was  en- 
tering upon  the  fourth  year  of  his  administration,  Mark 
Hopkins  had  just  been  graduated  and  was  about  to 

[133] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

become  a  tutor,  David  Dudley  Field,  Albert  Hopkins, 
and  John  Morgan  were  college  mates.  In  those  days  the 
summer  term  continued  through  July  and  August,  the 
Commencement  coming  in  September.  There  were 
long  winter  vacations,  that  students  who  wished  might 
teach  a  winter  school.  Brown  aided  himself  in  that  way 
to  secure  his  education.  He  had  to  economize  both 
time  and  money  and,  in  competition  with  more  thor- 
oughly-prepared classmates,  he  had  to  work  hard. 
Mathematics  was  his  favorite  study,  but  he  was  good 
in  all,  and  at  the  end  of  his  course  he  stood  in  the  first 
rank.  Some  of  the  students  said  of  him:  "He  left  the 
lime-kilns  of  Vermont,  washed  up  his  face,  and  came 
down  here  to  take  the  valedictory."  His  graduating 
oration  was  on  the  subject,  "Infidelity  not  Philoso- 
phy." On  the  same  program  appears  the  name  of  Mr. 
Tutor  Hopkins,  who  delivered  the  Master's  Oration  on 
the  subject,  "Mystery."  In  college  Mr.  Brown  had 
been  a  member  of  the  Philotechnian  Society,  of  which 
he  was  at  different  times  secretary,  vice-president,  and 
president.  The  spirit  of  the  time  may  be  caught  from 
these  sentences  of  President  Griffin's  Baccalaureate 
Sermon:  "I  long  to  see  every  class  go  forth  in  the 
spirit  of  a  Mills,  a  Richards,  a  Robbins,  determined  to 
make  their  influence  felt  on  the  other  side  of  the  globe. 
Will  you  not,  my  dear  pupils,  carry  this  spirit  with 
you,  will  not  every  one  of  you  say,  with  an  eye  lifted  to 
your  dying  Lord,  'Here  am  I  soul  and  body,  here  am 
I,  send  me,  if  it  be  to  the  ends  of  the  earth.' '  It  was 
owing,  in  part,  to  the  effect  of  such  preaching  as  this 
that  revivals  occurred  so  frequently  in  those  years,  and 
that  Mr.  Brown  and  ten  of  his  college  mates  became 
missionaries  in  foreign  fields,  while  from  his  own  class 
of  thirty  members,  twenty-four  were  candidates  for  the 
ministry.  It  is  said  that  it  was  under  the  inspiration  of 
one  of  Dr.  Griffin's  sermons  that  Mr.  Brown,  when 

[134] 


EDWARD   DORR  GRIFFIN 


Biographical  Sketches 

nineteen  years  of  age,  wrote  the  poem  entitled  "The 
Missionary,"  afterwards  published  as  "The  Mission- 
ary's Call."  The  spirit  of  the  hymn  is  shown  in  the  fol- 
lowing lines: 

"My  soul  is  not  at  rest.     There  comes  a  strange 
And  secret  whisper  to  my  spirit,  like 
A  dream  of  night,  that  tells  me  I  am  on 
Enchanted  ground.  .  .  . 
....  The  voice  of  my  departed  Lord, 
Go,  TEACH  ALL  NATIONS,  from  the  eastern  world 
Comes  on  the  night  air,  and  awakes  my  ear." 

After  graduation,  he  taught  in  different  places  for 
three  years,  and  in  1831  became  editor  of  the  Vermont 
Telegraph,  a  weekly  religious  newspaper.  Among  the 
topics  plainly  discussed  in  the  columns  of  this  paper 
were  slavery  and  secret  societies,  which  were  vigorously 
opposed. 

In  January,  1832,  Mr.  Brown  resigned  his  connec- 
tion with  the  Telegraph  and  entered  Newton  Theologi- 
cal Seminary,  having  already  decided  to  go  as  a  mis- 
sionary to  Burma.  On  the  15th  of  August  of  the  same 
year  he  was  ordained  at  Rutland,  Vermont,  and  with 
his  wife  embarked  for  Burma  on  the  22nd  of  De- 
cember following,  under  appointment  of  the  Baptist 
Triennial  Convention.  For  two  years  he  was  sta- 
tioned at  Maulmain,  Burma,  and  then  was  ap- 
pointed by  the  mission  to  commence,  with  Mr.  O. 
T.  Cutter,  a  new  mission  in  Assam.  He  had 
spent  two  years  of  precious  time  in  acquiring  the 
Burman  language  and  now  had  to  learn  the  Shan 
language.  The  journey  was  a  long  and  perilous  one, 
through  the  Hoogly,  Ganges,  and  Brahmaputra  rivers. 
From  Calcutta  to  their  station,  800  miles  distant,  the 
missionaries  had  to  provide  their  own  means  of  convey- 
ance, which  was  native  boats,  dragged  most  of  the  way 
against  a  strong  current  by  means  of  a  rope  attached  to 

[185] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

the  mast.  The  station,  which  they  reached  after  four- 
months  of  peril,  was  Sadiya,  on  the  Brahmaputra,  near 
the  borders  of  China,  400  miles  north  of  Ava.  The  life 
here  was  a  pioneer  life,  and  less  heroic  souls  might  have 
turned  back  from  this  isolation  among  savage  tribes. 
The  experience  of  his  youth  in  the  pioneer  life  of  the 
Vermont  wilderness  stood  him  in  good  stead.  His  Yan- 
kee ingenuity  solved  the  problem  of  how  to  build  houses 
for  shelter  and  for  school  purposes,  with  laborers  whose 
language  was  strange  and  who  knew  no  use  of  tools. 
To  add  to  his  trials,  he  had  found  that  the  Shans,  for 
whom  he  had  been  preparing  to  labor  by  learning  their 
language,  lived  "beyond  the  mountains,"  and  that  the 
people  immediately  around  him  were  the  valley  Assa- 
mese, speaking  an  entirely  different  language.  Here, 
among  savage  tribes,  with  no  grammar  or  dictionary, 
he  set  about  learning  the  language.  He  could  soon 
commence  the  work  of  translation.  Books  and  tracts 
were  distributed,  schools  established  and  zayats  were 
built,  where  the  gospel  could  be  preached  by  the  way- 
side. But  all  this  constructive  work  was  rudely  inter- 
rupted when,  in  1839,  Sadiya  was  attacked  by  the 
natives.  Many  of  the  people  and  soldiery  were  massa- 
cred, and  Mr.  Brown  with  his  wife  and  two  infant 
children  escaped  in  a  canoe  in  the  darkness  of  night, 
finding  protection  in  the  stockade,  which  was  still  in  pos- 
session of  the  British  troops.  As  many  of  the  natives  of 
Sadiya  had  been  killed  or  scattered,  it  was  decided  to 
remove  the  mission  to  Jaipur.  Even  here  they  were  not 
free  from  rumors  of  wars  and  suffered  from  intermit- 
tent fever,  while  the  natives  were  dying  with  cholera 
or  suffering  from  famine.  In  the  midst  of  these  trials, 
their  little  boy  was  threatened  with  blindness,  and  to  ob- 
tain medical  treatment  the  mother  courageously  under- 
took the  journey  of  800  miles  to  Calcutta  in  a  canoe, 
in  a  region  infested  by  wild  beasts  and  bands  of  robbers/ 

[136] 


Biographical  Sketches 

The  journey  did  not  bring  the  hoped-for  relief,  and 
soon  after  the  return  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Brown  were  called 
to  part  with  a  third  child. 

The  unhealthiness  of  the  station,  and  the  fact  that 
the  population  was  fluctuating  and  now  decreasing,  led 
to  the  removal,  in  1841,  to  the  thickly-populated  dis- 
trict of  Sibsagar.  This  place,  with  a  population  of 
5000,  was  the  center  of  a  hundred  villages  and  was  sit- 
uated in  a  comparatively  healthy  locality.  Here 
the  mission  was  highly  successful.  While  Mr.  Brown 
was  translating  the  New  Testament,  and  going  about 
practising  in  the  villages,  Mrs.  Brown  was  preparing 
school-books  and  spending  three  or  four  hours  a  day 
in  teaching  thirty  or  forty  boys.  Mr.  Brown  often 
made  missionary  tours  on  foot,  sometimes  going 
through  forests  as  far  as  200  miles.  His  most  impor- 
tant work,  however,  was  the  translation  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, and  in  1848  he  completed  the  Assamese  version 
of  the  New  Testament. 

During  the  period  1846-1849,  Mr.  Brown  was  left 
comparatively  alone  in  his  work,  Mrs.  Brown  having 
taken  to  America  their  two  surviving  children  and  hav- 
ing been  detained  there  during  this  time,  at  first  by  ill 
health  and  then  by  work  for  the  mission. 

In  1855,  after  twenty- two  years  of  toil  and  suffer- 
ings, both  returned  to  America,  where  Dr.  Brown  was 
pronounced  "a  wreck  in  body  and  mind."  After  a  rest 
of  two  years  and  a  partial  recovery  of  health  he  became 
editor  of  the  American  Baptist,  a  position  which  he  held 
for  fifteen  years.  The  term  of  his  editorship  was  a  most 
important  period  in  the  history  of  the  nation,  and  his 
editorials  discussed  the  affairs  of  government  in  a  vig- 
orous way.  His  pronounced  anti-slavery  principles, 
sometimes,  occasioned  him  personal  danger.  On  ac- 
count of  his  prominence  in  such  discussions  he  was  se- 
lected as  one  of  the  committee  of  three  to  wait  on  Presi- 

[  137  ] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

dent  Lincoln  before  the  issuing  of  the  Emancipation 
Proclamation. 

In  1872,  the  wonderful  openings  in  Japan  and  the 
urgent  calls  for  missionaries  again  aroused  the  mission- 
ary spirit  in  Dr.  Brown.  Though  sixty-five  years  of 
age,  he  accepted  the  appointment  of  the  American  Bap- 
tist Missionary  Union,  and  in  November  set  sail  for 
Japan,  reaching  Yokohama  February,  1873,  having 
been  detained  for  a  time  in  San  Francisco.  That  the 
enthusiasm  of  his  earlier  years  still  glowed  in  his  breast 
may  be  inferred  from  what  he  said  on  leaving:  "If  I 
can  live  ten  years  and  can  give  the  Japanese  the  New 
Testament,  and  see  a  Baptist  church  of  fifty  members 
in  Yokohama,  I  shall  feel  it  has  paid  to  send  me  out." 

While  detained  in  San  Francisco,  Dr.  Brown 
preached  various  missionary  sermons,  the  last  being  in 
Union  Square  Church,  Oakland,  January  5,  the  day  be- 
fore sailing.  Of  his  manner  and  personal  appearance 
at  this  time,  a  reporter  gave  this  account:  "Consider- 
ably advanced  in  years,  he  has  the  appearance  of  one 
who  has  led  an  active,  and  at  the  same  time  studious 
life.  His  face  cannot  fail  to  attract  attention  in  every 
educated  circle  by  the  strong  evidence  it  bears  of 
thought  and  mental  culture.  Few  foreheads  are  loftier 
than  his  and,  if  not  noticeably  wide,  it  is  finely  devel- 
oped in  the  region  where  phrenologists  locate  the  best 
intellectual  functions.  Hair  and  whiskers  almost  white 
give  rather  a  venerable  aspect  to  the  face,  but  beyond 
this  there  is  little  to  denote  age,  for  his  voice  is  the' 
reverse  of  feeble,  and  his  movements  are  full  of  vitality. 
His  superiority  as  a  preacher,  however,  is  more  in  mat- 
ter than  in  manner.  .  .  .  Teeming  with  information, 
felicitous  in  language,  independent  in  thought,  vigor- 
ously combining  logic  and  rhetoric  to  strengthen  his 
points,  and  connected  and  consistent  in  all  the  minutiae 
of  his  discourse,  he  possesses  abilities  which  render  him 

[138] 


Biographical  Sketches 
one  of  the  ablest  preachers  whom  we  have  heard  on  this 


course." 


On  reaching  Japan,  Dr.  Brown  entered  upon  the 
study  of  the  language  with  ardor,  and  in  three  months 
after  his  arrival  services  in  Japanese  and  a  Sunday 
Bible  class  for  the  natives  were  already  in  progress.  In 
1879  the  translation  of  the  New  Testament  in  vernacu- 
lar Japanese  was  printed,  the  first  New  Testament  pub- 
lished in  full  in  that  language. 

During  his  residence  in  Japan,  it  was  his  privilege 
to  welcome  other  laborers  to  the  field  and  see  the  estab- 
lishment of  seven  churches  having  more  than  300 
members. 

He  died  in  Yokohama,  January  1,  1886,  in  the 
79th  year  of  his  age.  The  funeral  was  attended  by 
a  large  number  of  people  from  Tokyo  and  Yoko- 
hama. Simultaneous  with  the  services  held  in  English 
in  the  house  was  held  a  service  in  Japanese  in  the 
Chapel.  One  of  his  associates  said  of  him  at  the  fu- 
neral: "During  his  long  missionary  career  he  has  liter- 
ally been  in  journeyings  often,  in  perils  of  waters,  in 
perils  of  robbers,  in  perils  among  his  own  countrymen, 
in  perils  by  the  heathen,  in  perils  in  the  city,  in  perils 
in  the  wilderness,  in  perils  in  the  sea."  "The  Mission- 
ary's Call"  was  chanted  at  the  house,  and  the  body  was 
borne  to  the  grave  by  Japanese  converts. 

Rev.  A.  A.  Bennett  of  Yokohama  wrote  of  him,  in 
the  Baptist  Missionary  Magazine:  "While  in  matters 
of  mission  policy  he  often,  rightly  or  wrongly,  felt  called 
upon  to  adopt  views  different  from  those  of  his  breth- 
ren, yet  he  has  left  an  untarnished  record,  extending 
over  three  score  years  and  ten,  and  has  set  a  noble  exam- 
ple of  ceaseless  industry  and  of  self-sacrificing,  un- 
flinching adherence  to  what  he  believed  to  be  right." 

Dr.  Brown,  besides  being  a  translator  and  a 
preacher  to  the  natives,  was  the  author  and  translator 

[139] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

of  hymns  in  the  languages  of  Burma,  Assam,  and 
Japan.  His  last  work  was  the  Japanese  Hymn-book, 
on  which  he  worked,  when  no  longer  able  to  use  the  pen, 
by  dictation  to  his  native  teacher. 

Dr.  Brown  was  greatly  interested  in  language  stu- 
dies, and  while  in  America  was,  for  some  time,  president 
of  "The  American  Philological  Society."  When  in 
Calcutta,  he  gave  much  attention  to  the  plan  for  print- 
ing the  languages  of  India  in  Roman  characters.  He 
also  strongly  recommended  the  adoption  of  the  Roman 
alphabet  in  place  of  the  Chinese  characters  in  writing 
the  Japanese  language,  a  plan  which  has  since  been 
urged  by  missionaries,  and  by  the  first  scholars  of 
Japan.  His  Alma  Mater  conferred  on  Mr.  Brown  the 
degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity  in  1854. 

Mr.  Brown  was  married  May  6,  1830,  at  East 
Charlemont,  Massachusetts,  to  Eliza  Ballard,  sister 
of  his  classmate,  James  Ballard,  daughter  of  Captain 
William  and  Elizabeth  (Whiting)  Ballard,  and  grand- 
daughter of  Deacon  Josiah  Ballard,  who  was  de- 
scended from  "husbandman"  William  Ballard,  who 
emigrated  from  London  to  New  England  in  1635. 
Eliza  Ballard  was  a  pupil  of  Mary  Lyon  in  1826-7,  and 
for  some  time  before  her  marriage  had  been  a  success- 
ful teacher.  She  was  a  talented  and  faithful  helpmeet 
of  her  husband  during  all  his  missionary  life  in  India 
and  for  nearly  all  the  subsequent  period  in  America. 
She  died  in  Jersey  City,  New  Jersey,  May  14,  1871. 

Mr.  Brown  married,  secondly,  in  Jersey  City,  July 
24,  1872,  Mrs.  Charlotte  A.  (Worth)  Marlit.  A  son 
by  this  marriage,  Nathan  Worth  Brown,  M.D.,  is  a 
medical  missionary  of  the  American  Baptist  Foreign 
Mission  Society,  located  at  Nanking,  East  China. 

Besides  the  letters  published  in  the  Baptist 
Missionary  Magazine,  and  the  editorials  which  ap- 
peared in  the  American  Baptist,  Dr.  Brown's  published 

[no] 


Biographical  Sketches 

works  were:  "Translations  of  the  New  Testament  in 
Assamese";  "Portions  of  the  Old  Testament  in  Assa- 
mese and  Shan";  "Grammar  of  the  Assamese  Lan- 
guage"; "Catechism  in  the  Assamese  and  Shan  Lan- 
guages"; "Arithmetic  in  Burman  and  Assamese"; 
"Hymns  in  Burman,  Assamese  and  English";  "Com- 
parative Vocabulary  of  some  fifty  Indian  languages 
and  dialects";  "The  Life  and  Gospel  of  Christ  in  As- 
samese"; "Pilgrim's  Progress,"  unfinished,  completed 
by  a  native  translator;  The  Orunodoi,  an  illustrated 
Assamese  monthly  magazine,  from  1846  to  1854;  and 
several  works  in  the  Saxonized  orthography,  the  prin- 
cipal of  which  is  "The  History  of  Magnus  Maharba 
and  the  Black  Dragon."  After  going  to  Japan,  he 
also  brought  out  in  Japanese  a  "Scripture  Manual"; 
"Mark's  Gospel";  the  "Account  of  the  Creation,"  with 
a  few  Psalms,  and  the  Epistle  of  James;  the  whole 
New  Testament;  "Rules  for  Transliteration  and 
Transference  of  Hebrew  Names";  also  an  edition  of 
the  New  Testament  in  Kana,  and  a  Scholars'  edition 
(mixed  Kana  and  Chinese).  He  also  translated  into 
the  Japanese  some  portions  of  the  Old  Testament  and 
many  hymns,  adding  a  number  of  his  own  composition. 
A  memorial  volume,  compiled  largely  from  letters 
of  Dr.  Brown,  entitled  "The  Whole  World  Kin,"  was 
published  in  1890. 


CLASS  OF  1828 

HARVEY  REXFORD  HITCHCOCK,  the  oldest  son  of 
eleven  children  of  David  and  Sarah  (Swan)  Hitch- 
cock, and  grandson  of  David  and  Lydia  (Parmlee) 
Hitchcock,  was  born  in  Great  Barrington,  Massachu- 
setts, March  13,  1800.  The  father  was  a  shoemaker, 
having  learned  the  trade  from  the  grandfather,  and 
settled  at  West  Stockbridge,  Massachusetts.  Along 

[141] 


Williams  College  and  Mission* 

with  his  knowledge  of  his  trade  there  was  combined 
some  literary  ability,  for  he  was  the  author  of  several 
books.  He  said  of  himself  that  he  was  "poor  and  la- 
borious but  enjoying  peace  and  contentment."  The 
family  is  descended  from  Matthias  Hitchcock,  who 
came  from  London  to  Boston  on  the  bark  Susan  and 
Ellen  in  the  spring  of  1635.  He  was  one  of  the  five 
purchasers  and  original  residents  of  "South  End  Neck," 
now  East  Haven,  Connecticut. 

Harvey  Rexford  Hitchcock  united  with  the  Congre- 
gational church  in  Great  Barrington,  January  5,  1817. 
He  entered  college  as  a  Junior  in  1826,  becoming  a 
member  of  the  class  which  sent  forth  five  missionaries, 
the  other  four  being  Henry  Richard  Hoisington,  Sam- 
uel Hutchings,  David  Belden  Lyman,  and  David 
White.  His  college  years  fell  under  the  presidency 
of  Dr.  Griffin  and  at  a  time  when  Mark  and  Albert 
Hopkins  were  tutors.  The  strong  religious  influence 
exerted  by  these  men  will  help  account  for  the  number 
of  missionaries  produced  by  the  college  in  this  period. 
In  college  Mr.  Hitchcock  was  a  member  of  the  Mills 
Theological  Society  and  of  the  Philotechnian  Society, 
of  which  he  was  for  a  time  a  vice-president.  At  the 
Commencement,  September  3,  1828,  he  took  part  in  a 
Conference  with  a  classmate,  Warren  Nichols,  on  the 
subject:  "Grandeur  as  exhibited  at  the  beginning  and 
the  end  of  time." 

After  graduation  from  college  Mr.  Hitchcock  stud- 
ied theology  at  Auburn  Seminary,  where  he  was  grad- 
uated in  1831.  He  sailed  as  a  missionary  of  the  Amer- 
ican Board  November  26  of  the  same  year,  for  the 
Sandwich  Islands,  being  a  member  of  the  fourth  rein- 
forcement, arriving  at  Honolulu  May  17,  1832.  He 
commenced  his  labors  in  July  of  this  year,  on  Molokai, 
where  he  labored  with  untiring  fidelity  and  remarkable 
success  for  twenty-three  years. 


Biographical  Sketches 

This  island  is  described  as  being  from  forty  to  fifty 
miles  long,  from  east  to  west,  and  about  seven  miles 
wide,  from  north  to  south.  It  is  a  little  less  than  an 
entire  mountain,  rising  on  the  north  almost  perpendic- 
ularly to  a  height  of  5000  or  6000  feet.  Between  the 
base  of  the  mountain  on  the  south  side  and  the  ocean  is 
a  narrow  plain  from  100  to  300  yards  wide.  The  most 
of  the  population  resided  on  this  plain.  There  was  but 
little  timber  on  the  island,  and  that  was  on  the  summit 
of  the  mountain.  The  soil  of  the  valleys  and  ravines 
was  rich  and  productive  of  a  great  variety  of  fruits  and 
vegetables.  The  climate  at  Kaluaaha,  the  station  oc- 
cupied by  Mr.  Hitchcock,  was  cooler  than  at  most  of 
the  stations,  the  heat  of  the  sun  being  mitigated  by  the 
trade  winds.  At  the  time  of  occupying  the  station  in 
1832,  the  people  were  poor  and  wretched,  being  subject 
to  the  oppressive  exactions  of  the  chiefs.  Rev.  Lowell 
Smith  (Williams  1829),  a  college  mate  of  Mr.  Hitch- 
cock, had  begun  work  at  this  station,  in  1832,  and  a 
year  later  gave  this  description  of  the  people:  "Liv- 
ing under  a  system  so  oppressive  as  this,  it  is  not  sur- 
prising that  the  mass  of  them  are  heathen  still  in  all 
but  the  name.  And  such  in  fact  they  are,  heathen  in 
knowledge,  heathen  in  feeling,  and,  in  all  but  the  wor- 
ship of  idols,  heathen  in  practice.  You  would  ask  for 
no  other  confirmation  of  the  truth  of  this  remark  than 
a  sight  of  the  manner  in  which  they  live.  Their  houses, 
many  of  them,  are  no  more  than  five  or  six  feet  long  by 
four  wide  and  five  feet  from  the  ridge-pole  to  the 
ground;  and  these  are  not  unfrequently  the  habitation 
of  two,  three,  and  sometimes  more  individuals  of  both 
sexes.  And  when  the  houses  are  more  spacious,  as 
most  of  them  are,  the  state  of  things  is  no  less  distress- 
ing. But  one  apartment,  no  floor,  no  window,  no 
chimney,  except  the  humble  door  at  which  you  enter. 
In  this  one  apartment  you  may  usually  see,  at  one  and 

[143] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

the  same  time,  men  with  no  clothing  but  the  wretched 
malo,  which  covers  less  of  the  surface  of  their  bodies 
than  the  shoes  on  a  man's  feet;  women  perfectly  naked 
above  the  loins;  children  in  many  instances  with  no 
clothing  at  all;  cats,  dogs,  swine,  fowls,  and  goats,  and 
in  addition  to  all  these,  lice  and  fleas  without  number. 
We  are  tortured  by  the  strict  community  which  exists 
among  the  above-mentioned  animals,  and  which  seems 
to  reduce  them  all  to  nearly  the  same  level." 

Such  was  the  condition  of  the  people  to  whose  ele- 
vation Mr.  Hitchcock  devoted  his  life.  His  success 
was  marked  from  the  beginning,  and,  with  only  an  oc- 
casional discouragement,  was  continuous.  The  sec- 
ond year  after  beginning  his  work  he  wrote  of  the 
establishment  of  three  day  schools,  one  with  seventy 
members,  two  Sabbath-schools  with  an  average  attend- 
ance of  over  100,  of  the  house  of  God  filled  on  the  Sab- 
bath, of  interesting  religious  meetings,  of  the  observ- 
ance of  the  monthly  concert  of  prayer,  and  of  contri- 
butions made  for  benevolent  purposes.  Two  or  three 
years  later  a  new  meeting-house  was  erected,  and  the 
number  of  scholars  in  day  schools  increased  to  1140. 
At  the  same  time  special  religious  interest  was  mani- 
fest in  schools  and  congregations  with  frequent  admis- 
sions to  the  church.  He  superintended  three  out-sta- 
tions, one  of  them  at  Kolaupapa,  which  was  the  center 
of  a  population  of  about  1000  souls.  From  a  letter 
dated  January,  1840,  we  get  a  glimpse  of  his  weekly 
routine  of  duties.  "If  I  am  favored  with  my  present 
health,"  he  writes,  "I  hope  to  continue  without  inter- 
ruption my  present  system  of  labors ;  that  is,  to  hold  a 
Bible  class  Sabbath  morning  of  twenty-five  girls,  preach 
at  ten  o'clock,  have  an  adult  Sabbath-school  at  noon, 
and  preach  again  at. four.  My  week-day  labors  are  as 
follows, — a  Bible  class  daily  with  the  above-mentioned 
company  of  females,  who  are  committing  Matthew  to 

[144] 


Biographical  Sketches 

memory  at  the  rate  of  six  verses  a  day.  I  spend  some 
time  with  them  in  teaching  singing.  On  Tuesday  and 
Thursday  mornings  I  preach  at  sunrise,  and  preach 
regularly  on  Wednesday  afternoon.  Saturday  evening 
I  have  a  lecture  for  the  church.  Once  in  two  weeks  on 
Friday  I  address  the  men's  benevolent  society,  or  cat- 
echise them  on  the  New  Testament;  and  on  Tuesday 
have  a  Bible  class  of  adults.  We  are  now  going 
through  the  book  of  Daniel.  I  make  it  a  point,  as  far 
as  possible,  to  visit  some  parts  of  the  parish  daily,  and 
hold  direct  religious  conversation  with  the  people.  In 
these  visits  I  am  happy  to  say  that  I  am  received  with 
respect,  and  listened  to  by  the  people.  .  .  .  My  miscel- 
laneous labors  consist  in  conversing  with  those  who  re- 
sort to  my  study  for  the  purpose,  and  giving  out  medi- 
cine for  the  sick.  I  am  trying  also  to  crowd  in  a  weekly 
lecture  on  the  most  important  points  in  theology, 
designed  for  several  of  the  most  pious  and  intelligent 
members  of  our  church,  in  order  to  enable  them  to  be- 
come more  efficient  helpers  in  the  great  work." 

In  1842,  in  the  time  of  a  revival,  having  only  his  wife 
and  one  lady  teacher  as  helpers,  he  calls  for  additional 
missionaries,  enumerating  as  the  varied  labors  that 
pressed  upon  him,  the  care  of  the  church  of  400  mem- 
bers, the  instruction  of  500  to  600  professed  converts, 
preaching  three  times  on  the  Sabbath, — twice  at  the  sta- 
tion and  once  at  an  out-post, — instructing  an  adult 
Sabbath-school  of  several  hundred,  superintending  the 
native  assistants,  superintending  the  children's  schools 
of  the  island,  containing  more  than  1000  scholars; 
teaching  the  teachers  and  furnishing  them  with  books, 
stated  preaching  on  Wednesday,  attention  to  medical 
calls.  Along  with  this  list  of  labors  performed  he  gave 
a  list  of  things  that  ought  to  be  done  but  were  neglected 
through  want  of  help.  In  1843  began  a  revival  when 
the  number  of  inquirers  was  more  than  700.  Besides 

EIMJ 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

other  seasons  of  lesser  religious  interest  there  began  in 
1848  a  revival  which  continued  into  the  following  year, 
when  at  one  time  200  stood  propounded  for  Christian 
fellowship.  This  growth  called  for  new  churches  and 
additional  buildings  for  schools.  But  along  with  this 
evangelistic  and  educational  work,  Mr.  Hitchcock 
taught  the  people  the  duties  of  systematic  benevolence. 
When  the  poverty  of  the  people  and  the  difficulty  of 
securing  money  are  considered,  the  contributions  made 
by  the  natives  for  home  and  foreign  work  were  gener- 
ous in  the  extreme.  In  speaking  of  the  erection  of  a 
new  church  and  of  the  contributions  for  this  object, 
amounting  to  between  $200  and  $300,  besides  stone  and 
lime  and  timber,  Mr.  Hitchcock  writes:  "Much  of  the 
money  has  been  obtained  by  transporting  fire-wood 
across  the  channel  to  Lahaina, — twenty  miles  distant,— 
in  canoes.  They  carry  seven  sticks  to  a  load,  on  an 
average,  and  sell  them  for  eight  cents  a  stick.  The 
women  also  have  worked  hard  and  cheerfully  in  making 
mats."  Mr.  Hitchcock  explains  that  by  making  mats, 
they  never  earn  more  than  six  or  eight  cents  a  week. 
In  giving  some  account  of  progress  in  the  year  1851,  he 
states  that  in  the  first  three  months  of  that  year  the 
people  had  contributed  more  than  $300  besides  subscrib- 
ing $1800  for  repairing  a  church.  In  the  same  year 
he  wrote  that  within  three  miles  of  his  station,  in  either 
direction,  no  less  than  seven  houses  of  worship  had  been 
built  by  members  of  the  church  and  that  they  were  then 
building  the  eighth.  Besides  the  remarkable  develop- 
ment of  the  church  in  the  island,  schools  flourished  and 
agriculture  made  "unexampled  progress." 

His  arduous  labors  told  upon  his  health.  He  had 
seen  a  people  raised  from  the  condition  of  heathenism 
to  a  position  of  self-*support  in  religious  matters  and 
practising  many  of  the  arts  of  civilized  life.  He  had 
richly  earned  a  period  of  rest.  In  1853  he  visited  this 

[  146  ] 


Biographical  Sketches 

country  for  the  benefit  of  his  health,  but  without  suc- 
cess. On  November  28,  1854,  he  with  his  wife  and  two 
sons  embarked  for  the  Islands,  where  they  arrived 
March  31  of  the  following  year.  He  died  at  his  home 
in  Kaluaaha,  August  29,  1855,  aged  55. 

Mr.  Alexander,  who  attended  the  funeral  and 
wrote  an  obituary  notice  of  him  for  the  Friend,  thus 
spoke  of  him:  "He  died  rejoicing  in  the  hopes  of  the 
gospel.  His  dominant  passion  had  always  been  to 
preach,  and  his  great  desire  to  live  longer  seemed  to  be 
simply  that  he  might  preach  more." 

He  married  August  26,  1831,  Miss  Rebecca  How- 
ard of  Auburn,  New  York.  She  survived  her  husband 
many  years,  dying  at  Hilo,  May  10,  1890.  Besides  a 
daughter,  Sarah  D.,  who  died  in  infancy,  their  children 
were  three  sons:  David  H.  Hitchcock,  a  lawyer  in 
Hilo;  H.  R.  Hitchcock,  principal  of  the  first  high 
school  or  seminary  carried  on  by  missionaries  for  the 
benefit  of  natives;  and  Edward  G.  Hitchcock,  a  sugar 
planter. 

HENEY  RICHARD  HOISINGTON  was  born  in  Ver- 
gennes,  Vermont,  August  23,  1801,  being  the  son  of 
Job  and  Sarah  (Knapp)  Hoisington,  and  grandson  of 
James  Hoisington.  The  family  is  of  English  descent, 
John  Hoisington,  one  of  the  ancestors,  having  come  to 
this  country  from  England.  This  John  (the  name  be- 
ing originally  Horsington)  served  in  King  Philip's 
War  in  1675.  Job  Hoisington,  the  father  of  the  sub- 
ject of  our  sketch,  was  a  minute-man  of  the  War  of 
1812,  and  was  killed  by  a  tomahawk  in  defending  Buf- 
falo Post  against  the  English  and  Indians.  Other 
ancestors  were  engaged  in  the  Colonial  wars.  Job 
Hoisington  was,  by  trade,  a  builder  and  cabinet  maker. 
His  marked  characteristics  were  energy,  uprightness, 
and  patriotism. 

[147] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

Henry  Richard  Hoisington  learned  the  printer's 
trade  when  about  fourteen  years  of  age,  and  pursued  it 
for  a  time  in  Utica  and  New  York.  He  prepared  for 
college  in  Bloomfield  Academy,  New  Jersey,  under  the 
tuition  of  Dr.  Armstrong,  and  entered  Williams  in 
1824.  His  college  course  thus  fell  entirely  within  the 
presidency  of  Dr.  Griffin.  This  circumstance  may  in 
part  account  for  the  enthusiasm  for  missions  which  ap- 
parently prevailed  at  that  time.  At  any  rate  five  mem- 
bers of  the  class  of  1828  entered  the  service  of  the 
American  Board.  In  college  Hoisington  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Mills  Theological  Society  and  of  the  Philo- 
technian  Society,  of  which  he  was  one  of  the  presidents 
and  for  a  time  secretary.  He  was  a  successful  student 
and  was  graduated  with  Phi  Beta  Kappa  rank.  He  was 
assigned  the  Greek  Oration  at  Commencement,  the 
subject  of  his  address  being,  "The  Golden  Fleece." 
He  studied  theology  at  the  Auburn  Seminary,  from 
which  he  was  graduated  in  1831.  In  August  of  the 
same  year  he  was  ordained  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  Aurora,  New  York,  where  he  remained  two 
years.  In  1833,  he  received  an  appointment  as  a  mis- 
sionary of  the  American  Board,  and  sailed  from  Bos- 
ton for  Ceylon,  in  company  with  his  classmate,  Sam- 
uel Hutchings,  and  some  others,  in  July,  arriving  at 
Jaffna  in  October.  He  was  at  first  stationed  at  Man- 
epay,  where  he  not  only  had  charge  of  a  little  church, 
but  superintended  seventeen  schools  which  were  con- 
nected with  the  mission  and  numbered  700  pupils. 
When  it  was  deemed  important  to  establish  a  mission 
in  the  Madura  District,  the  population  of  which  was 
then  1,300,000,  while  the  Tamil  people  of  the  continent 
numbered  6,000,000  or  8,000,000,  Mr.  Hoisington  was 
one  of  the  missionaries  selected  to  establish  the  mission. 
The  Missionary  Herald  for  1835  contains  an  interest- 
ing description  of  Madura,  written  by  Mr.  Hoisington, 

[148] 


Biographical  Sketches 

who  calls  it  a  "city  of  temples,  the  largest  of  which  has 
a  wall  half  a  mile  in  circumference,  containing  as  many 
as  10,000  stone  pillars,  on  which  are  carved  curiously 
wrought  images  of  every  description."  Mr.  Hoising- 
ton  showed  the  importance  of  this  city  as  a  missionary 
station,  and  gave  many  reasons  for  greatly  extending 
the  mission  in  that  district.  At  the  close  of  1835,  Dr. 
Poor  resigned  his  position  as  principal  of  the  Batti- 
cotta  Seminary  that  he  might  labor  for  a  time  in  this 
new  mission  on  the  continent.  It  was  at  this  time  that 
Mr.  Hoisington  took  the  superintendence  of  the  Sem- 
inary, in  connection  with  which  his  remaining  years 
of  missionary  service  were  to  be  rendered.  Of 
Mr.  Hoisington's  appointment  to  the  position 
Dr.  Anderson  says:  "His  scholarly  attainments 
and  habits,  while  he  gave  great  prominence  to  Biblical 
instruction,  did  much  to  develop  the  desire  for  scientific 
knowledge." 

Of  the  Batticotta  Seminary,  of  which  Jaffna  Col- 
lege is  the  legitimate  successor,  Mr.  Hoisington  was 
principal  some  thirteen  years.  Though  he  was  feeble 
in  health,  he  accomplished  a  great  work  for  the  sem- 
inary, in  which  he  took  a  deep  interest.  On  account  of 
ill  health  he  visited  the  United  States  in  1842,  return- 
ing to  Jaffna  the  following  year.  He  was  finally 
compelled,  by  reason  of  continued  ill  health,  to  leave  his 
mission  work  and  return  home  in  1849.  With  health 
partially  restored,  he  continued  as  agent  of  the  Board 
two  years,  during  which  time  he  visited  and  did  efficient 
work  among  the  churches  of  southern  New  England. 
From  November,  1853,  to  March,  1857,  he  was  acting 
pastor  of  the  Congregational  Church  in  Williamstown, 
Massachusetts.  During  this  time  he  occasionally  lec- 
tured to  the  students  of  the  college  on  Hinduism  and 
gave  some  private  lessons  in  Tamil.  It  is  to  be  pre- 
sumed that  his  services  in  the  church  and  college  had 

t  149  ] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

not  a  little  to  do  with  creating  a  zeal  for  missions,  for, 
from  the  classes  which  had  the  opportunity  of  hearing 
him  preach  or  lecture,  twelve  members  gave  themselves 
to  missionary  work.  In  April,  1857,  he  was  in- 
stalled pastor  of  the  church  in  Centrebrook,  Connecti- 
cut, where  he  died  suddenly,  May  16,  1858,  at  the  age 
of  57. 

Mr.  Hoisington  was  endowed  by  nature  with  an 
acute  and  vigorous  mind.  His  work  as  instructor  of 
Tamil  youth  at  Batticotta  Seminary  led  him  to  study 
deeply  the  science,  metaphysics,  and  theology  of  the 
Hindus,  and  it  was  said  of  him  that  in  the  department 
of  higher  Tamil  literature,  he  had  perhaps  no  superior 
in  Southern  India. 

Mr.  Hoisington  was  married  on  September  21, 
1831,  at  Chester,  Massachusetts,  to  Nancy,  daughter  of 
Crispus  and  Betsey  (Wright)  Lyman,  granddaughter 
of  Stephen  Lyman,  and  a  descendant  of  Richard  Ly- 
man, who  came  from  Essex  County,  England,  to 
Northampton,  Massachusetts.  She  survived  her  hus- 
band many  years,  dying  in  Cleveland,  Ohio,  March  29, 
1878,  at  the  age  of  74. 

Of  six  children  born  to  them,  only  one  is  now  living, 
Rev.  Henry  Richard  Hoisington,  who  was  graduated 
from  Williams  in  1857,  and  is  now  a  retired  Presbyte- 
rian minister,  residing  in  Moores,  Pennsylvania. 

Besides  numerous  letters  written  from  the  mission 
field  and  published  in  the  Missionary  Herald,  Mr.  Hois- 
ington published  the  "Oriental  Astronomer,"  various 
articles  in  the  Bibliotheca  Sacra,  and  "Exposition  of 
Hindu  Astrology,"  published  by  the  Ceylon  Mission 
in  the  Christian  Almanac.  He  also  wrote  for  the  Amer- 
ican Oriental  Society  a  Syllabus  of  a  Tamil  translation 
of  an  old  Sanskrit  work  which  treats  of  deity,  soul,  and 
matter;  also  an  English  translation  of  the  same  treatise, 
with  an  introduction  and  notes.  His  Alma  Mater  con- 

[150] 


Biographical  Sketches 

f  erred  on  him  the  honorary  degree  of  Master  of  Arts  in 
1843. 

SAMUEL  HUTCHINGS  was  born  in  New  York  City 
September  15,  1806.  He  was  the  son  of  Samuel  and 
Lois  (Whitehead)  Hutchings.  Samuel  Hutchings, 
Sr.,  was  among  those  taken  by  the  British  during  the 
Revolutionary  War,  and  was  confined  in  the  Middle 
Dutch  Church,  on  Nassau  Street,  New  York,  which 
was  then  used  as  a  prison.  He  was  a  merchant,  and 
during  the  pastorate  of  Rev.  Dr.  Cox  was  an  elder  in 
the  Spring  Street  Presbyterian  Church  of  New  York 
City.  The  son  was  reared  in  a  home  of  comfort  and 
amid  excellent  religious  influences,  and  early  gave  him- 
self to  the  ministry.  He  fitted  for  college  at  the  acad- 
emy in  Bloomfield,  New  Jersey,  and  entered  college  in 
1824.  Among  his  college  mates  were  Nathan  Brown, 
Simeon  Howard  Calhoun,  Samuel  Irenaeus  Prime, 
and  David  Newton  Sheldon.  Four  of  his  classmates 
became  missionaries  in  foreign  fields.  He  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Philologian  Society  and  of  the  Mills  Theo- 
logical Society.  He  was  a  successful  student,  and  was 
one  of  the  speakers  at  Commencement,  the  subject  of 
his  oration  being  "Errors  of  Genius."  After  gradu- 
ation he  studied  theology  in  Princeton  Seminary,  com- 
pleting the  course  in  1831. 

He  was  ordained  by  the  Presbytery  of  Cleveland, 
Ohio,  November  8,  of  the  same  year,  and  became  the 
stated  supply  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  that 
city,  1831-32.  He  then  became  stated  supply  of  the 
Congregational  Church  in  Medfield,  Massachusetts, 
1832-3.  In  1833  he  sailed  under  appointment  of  the 
American  Board  as  a  missionary  to  Ceylon,  India, 
where  he  spent  ten  years  of  faithful  service. 

In  his  journal  of  date  July  12,  1834,  Mr.  Hutchings 
gives  some  account  of  his  surroundings  at  Varany:  "We 

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Williams  College  and  Missions 

took  our  departure  from  Oodooville,  where  we  spent 
eight  months  of  peculiar  interest  and  great  enjoyment, 
and  arrived  here  on  the  eighth  instant.  We  are  living 
in  a  bungalow  which,  as  to  neatness  and  comfort,  is  just 
about  on  a  par  with  a  newly  built  barn  at  home.  It 
is  covered  with  leaves  deeply  plaited  together,  instead 
of  boards.  The  dimensions  are  fifty-six  feet  by  thirty- 
three.  One  end  is  reserved  for  meetings  on  the  Sab- 
bath, the  remainder  divided  into  two  rooms,  besides  a 
bathing  and  store-room.  The  church  ground  is  nearly 
covered  with  thorns  and  bushes,  but  we  hope  soon  to 
have  it  all  cleared  away.  This  is  the  more  necessary  as 
many  snakes,  scorpions,  tarantulas,  etc.,  hide  among 
them.  We  have  killed  in  two  days  two  snakes  whose 
bite  is  death — cobra  capella,  or  hooded  snake,  also  a 
scorpion  with  two  of  its  young,  whose  poison  is  very 
painful.  These  cobra  capellas  are  usually  from  three 
to  five  feet  long,  and  the  larger  ones  three  and  three  and 
a  half  inches  thick/'  A  more  pleasing  passage  in  the 
journal  of  the  same  year  is  the  following:  "We  have 
now  in  Varany  four  schools,  in  which  are  nearly  150 
pupils,  most  of  them  boys.  We  shall  gradually  obtain 
girls.  We  have  had  applications  for  the  establishment 
of  more  schools,  but  our  means  will  not  allow  us  to  have 
more  this  year."  The  journal  of  a  year  subsequent 
tells  of  the  meeting  at  Oodooville  of  150  school-masters 
and  of  the  6000  children  of  the  district  who  were  being 
educated  under  them  in  the  knowledge  of  the  true 
God. 

The  beginning  of  the  year  1842  finds  Mr.  Hutch- 
ings  at  Royapoorum,  a  northern  suburb  of  Madras,  he 
having  removed  there  from  the  Ceylon  Mission  for  two 
years,  to  assist  in  the  preparation  and  publication  of  a 
Tamil  and  English  Dictionary,  which  had  been  begun 
by  Mr.  Knight  of  the  Church  Missionary  Society.  Mr. 
Hutchings  also  took  charge  of  the  station  at  Royapoo- 

[152] 


Biographical  Sketches 

rum,  where,  a  little  while  before,  a  church  edifice  had 
been  erected. 

Mr.  Hutchings  had  the  distinction  of  having  intro- 
duced into  India  Dr.  Lowell  Mason's  method  of  teach- 
ing singing.  Being  himself  a  singer  and  a  personal 
friend  of  Dr.  Mason,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hutchings  had,  by 
invitation,  visited  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Mason  in  Boston  be- 
fore sailing,  in  order  that  Dr.  Mason's  method  might 
be  learned  for  the  purpose  of  teaching  it  to  the  boys  of 
Batticotta  Seminary. 

Near  the  end  of  the  year  1843  ill  health  compelled 
Mr.  Hutchings  to  relinquish  the  work  to  which  he  had 
devoted  his  life  and  in  which  he  had  been  so  successful, 
and  to  return  to  this  country.  After  a  period  of  rest 
and  recuperation  he  became  pastor  of  the  Congrega- 
tional Church  in  South  Brookfield,  Massachusetts, 
1847-51. 

He  was  principal  of  a  private  school  for  young 
ladies  in  New  Haven,  Connecticut,  1851-6,  and  of  a 
similar  school  in  Wilkesbarre,  Pennsylvania,  1856-7. 
He  was  stated  supply  for  the  Wickliffe  Presbyterian 
Church  at  Newark,  New  Jersey,  1857-63,  where  he 
also  taught  two  years.  He  subsequently  became  the 
stated  supply  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  at  Salem, 
Pennsylvania,  1869-70.  After  another  period  of 
teaching  he  removed,  in  1873,  to  Orange,  New  Jersey, 
and  devoted  himself  to  literary  work.  He  died  in 
Orange  of  pneumonia  and  heart  failure,  September  1, 
1895,  89  years  of  age.  He  was  the  last  survivor  of  a 
family  of  fourteen  children.  The  funeral  services  were 
held  at  the  family  residence  in  Orange,  the  six  oldest 
grandsons  acting  as  bearers.  The  place  of  burial  is 
Mount  Pleasant  Cemetery,  Newark. 

Mr.  Hutchings  married  at  New  Haven,  Connecti- 
cut, September  18,  1831,  Elizabeth  Coit  Lathrop, 
daughter  of  Charles  and  Joanna  (Leffingwell)  La- 

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Williams  College  and  Missions 

throp,  and  granddaughter  of  Colonel  Christopher  and 
Elizabeth  (Coit)  Leffingwell  and  of  Azariah  and  Abi- 
gail (Huntington)  Lathrop,  and  a  descendant  of  Rev. 
John  Lothroppe,  who  came  from  Lowthorpe,  England, 
to  America  in  1634.  Mrs.  Hutchings  was  also  de- 
scended, on  her  mother's  side,  from  Elder  Brewster  of 
the  Mayflower.  Her  father,  Charles  Lathrop,  grad- 
uated from  Yale  in  1788,  and  spent  his  life  in  Norwich, 
Connecticut,  in  the  practice  of  the  law.  He  married  a 
sister  of  William  Leffingwell,  of  Norwich,  who  was 
graduated  at  Yale  in  1786.  Mrs.  Hutchings  had  four 
sisters,  all  of  whom  married  ministers,  and  all  but  one 
missionaries,  one  of  the  sisters  being  the  first  Mrs. 
Miron  Winslow. 

Of  ten  children  born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hutchings, 
five  are  living: — Mrs.  Theodore  H.  Smith,  Orange, 
New  Jersey;  Mrs.  Frederic  A.  R.  Baldwin,  Allentown, 
Pennsylvania;  Elizabeth  Nichols  Hutchings  and  Cor- 
nelia Vermilye  Hutchings,  Orange,  New  Jersey; 
George  Long  Hutchings,  East  Orange,  New  Jersey. 
Mrs.  Hutchings  died  at  Orange,  September  1,  1895. 

While  in  India  Mr.  Hutchings  was,  for  a  time,  sec- 
retary of  the  Jaffna  Bible  Society  and  secretary  of  the 
Revision  Committee.  In  collaboration  with  others  he 
revised  the  Tamil  Bible,  and  near  the  close  of  his  term 
of  service  in  India,  he  was  engaged  in  the  compilation  of 
a  Tamil  and  English  Dictionary.  After  his  return  to 
this  country,  he  published  in  1874  "The  Mode  of  Bap- 
tism." He  was  one  of  the  principal  contributors  to 
the  American  edition  of  "Chambers'  Encyclopaedia," 
over  one  thousand  articles  in  this  work  being  from  his 
pen.  He  also  prepared  most  of  the  biographical 
sketches  for  the  "Encyclopaedia  of  Missions."  He  was 
a  contributor  also  to  the  Bibliotheca  Sacra,  Christian 
Intelligencer,  and  Presbyterian  Journal,  besides  other 
religious  and  secular  periodicals. 

(154) 


Biographical  Sketches 

Mr.  Hutchings  received  from  his  Alma  Mater  the 
honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity  in  1888. 

DAVID  BELDEN  LYMAN,  the  oldest  of  ten  children  of 
David  and  Rhoda  Phelps  (Belden)  Lyman,  was  born 
in  Hartford,  Connecticut,  July  28,  1803.  He  was  the 
grandson  of  David  Lyman,  who  married  Mary  Brown, 
a  relative  of  the  martyr,  Captain  John  Brown.  This 
grandfather,  known  as  General  David,  served  some 
time  in  the  army  of  the  Revolution,  and  then  was  hon- 
orably discharged  to  run  a  grist-mill  in  New  Hartford, 
for  the  supply  of  the  Revolutionary  troops.  The  great- 
grandfather of  David  Belden,  also  named  David,  mar- 
ried Mary  Guitteau,  who  was  of  Huguenot  descent, 
being  the  daughter  of  Francis  Guitteau,  a  distinguished 
physician  of  Woodbury,  Connecticut,  who  was  ban- 
ished from  France  during  the  persecution  of  the  Hu- 
guenots in  connection  with  St.  Bartholomew's  Day. 

The  Lyman  family  traces  its  descent  from  Richard 
Lyman,  who  was  the  ancestor  of  all  the  Lymans  of 
English  stock  in  America,  and  who  was  born  in  High 
Ongar,  Essex  County,  England,  and  married  Sarah, 
daughter  of  Roger  Osborne,  of  Halstead,  in  Kent.  He 
embarked  with  his  family  from  the  port  of  Bristol  for 
New  England,  and  became  one  of  the  first  settlers  of 
Hartford,  Connecticut.  He  died  in  August,  1640. 

The  father  of  David  Belden  Lyman  was  a  farmer, 
and,  through  his  ancestry  from  England  and  the  Hu- 
guenots of  France,  he  was  a  Puritan  of  double  quality. 
The  name  of  Lyman  is  one  of  distinction  in  the  civil 
and  religious  annals  of  this  country.  In  this  branch  of 
the  family  were  many  who  enjoyed  the  advantages  of 
higher  education.  Rev.  Orange  Lyman,  an  uncle  of 
the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was  graduated  at  Williams 
in  1809,  and  was  for  one  year  a  tutor  in  his  Alma  Mater. 
He  married  a  sister  of  a  college  mate,  Chester  Dewey 

[155] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

(Williams  1806),  who  afterwards  became  a  professor 
in  his  Alma  Mater.  Two  other  uncles,  Elijah  and 
Norman  Lyman,  were  eminent  physicians  in  Connecti- 
cut. Two  cousins,  Rev.  John  Burnett  Lyman  and  Rev. 
Judson  Guitteau  Lyman,  were  graduated  here  in  1825 
and  1847,  respectively. 

David  Belden  Lyman  was  converted  in  childhood 
and  united  with  the  church  at  the  age  of  eighteen.  He 
prepared  for  college  at  the  Lenox  Academy  and  entered 
Williams  in  1824.  One  of  the  more  distinguished 
members  of  the  class  of  1828  was  Dr.  Alonzo  Clark. 
This  class  had  five  members  who  became  missionaries 
in  foreign  fields,  the  four  besides  Mr.  Lyman  being 
Harvey  Rexford  Hitchcock,  Henry  Richard  Hoising- 
ton,  Samuel  Hutchings,  and  David  White,  who,  how- 
ever, was  not  graduated  at  Williams.  The  large 
number  of  missionaries  from  the  class  of  1828  may  be 
accounted  for  in  part  by  the  earnest  preaching  of  Presi- 
dent Griffin,  who  had  been  inaugurated  in  1821,  and  in 
part  by  the  revival  of  religion  that  occurred  in  the  col- 
lege in  1824  and  1825. 

Lyman's  college  life  was  marked  by  good  scholar- 
ship and  earnest  religious  character.  He  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Philologian  Society,  and  of  the  Mills  Theo- 
logical Society.  He  was  one  of  the  speakers  at 
Commencement,  his  appointment  being  an  Oration, 
and  his  subject,  "Effects  of  the  Roman  Conquest 
upon  Britain." 

His  theological  studies  were  pursued  at  Andover 
Seminary,  where  he  was  graduated  in  1831.  On  Oc- 
tober 12  of  the  same  year  he  was  ordained  as  a  mission- 
ary of  the  American  Board  at  Hanover,  New  Hamp- 
shire, with  Rev.  Asher  Wright,  for  a  long  time  mis- 
sionary among  the  Nocth  American  Indians.  President 
Lord  of  Dartmouth  College  preached  the  sermon  on 
the  occasion.  On  the  26th  of  November,  he  sailed  from 

[156] 


Biographical  Sketches 

New  Bedford,  Massachusetts,  with  the  fourth  mission- 
ary company  for  the  Sandwich  Islands,  reaching  Hon- 
olulu May  17,  1832,  after  a  passage  of  172  days.  He 
was  stationed  at  Hilo  on  Hawaii,  where  he  remained 
during  his  whole  missionary  life,  without  once  return- 
ing to  his  native  land.  After  four  years  of  evangelis- 
tic work  as  associate  pastor  with  Mr.  Green,  he  opened 
the  Hilo  Boarding  School  for  Boys  in  1836,  and  con- 
tinued at  the  head  of  it  until  1873,  when  he  retired  be- 
cause of  advanced  age.  The  school  was  designed  to 
train  teachers  for  the  common  schools.  The  pupils 
were  required  to  do  a  certain  amount  of  manual  labor 
each  day.  The  institution  had  a  charter,  the  mission- 
aries of  the  Islands  being  the  trustees.  The  school 
trained  nearly  1000  choice  Hawaiian  youth,  many  of 
whom  are  to-day  pastors  of  the  native  churches,  teach- 
ers of  the  native  schools,  lawyers,  planters,  men  of  af- 
fairs, and  missionaries  in  other  islands.  Upon  the  minds 
and  hearts  of  all  of  these  Mr.  Lyman  left  the  impress 
of  his  own  high  character.  The  value  of  the  services 
which  he  thus  rendered  for  Hawaii  cannot  be  easily 
appreciated.  In  addition  to  teaching,  he  also  often 
preached. 

He  was  of  gentle  spirit,  and  humble  in  his  estimate 
of  himself.  In  his  life  work  he  accomplished  much 
more  than  many  others  who  seem  to  do  far  more.  It 
was  characteristic  of  his  modesty  that  he  said  to  one 
who  was  to  speak  at  his  funeral:  "Say  nothing  in  my 
praise,  say  what  you  can  to  make  men  better."  The 
following  extract  is  from  the  obituary  notice  given  in 
the  Missionary  Herald: 

"Quietly  and  unostentatiously  he  did  his  work,  not 
anxious  for  the  applause  of  man,  but  ready  to  devote 
all  his  powers  to  the  service  of  his  Master.  In  his  old 
age  he  was  greatly  honored  by  all  who  knew  him.  He 
kept  himself  fresh  by  work  and  study,  and  when  up- 

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Williams  College  and  Missions 

ward  of  seventy-five  years  of  age  he  was  accustomed  to 
read  his  Hebrew  Bible,  both  for  profit  and  enjoyment. 
It  was  fitting  that  at  his  funeral  in  the  native  church  at 
Hilo,  where  Titus  Coan  had  so  long  preached,  there 
should  be  a  great  assembly  of  Hawaiians,  and  that  both 
the  natives  and  foreigners  should  unite  in  affectionate 
remembrance  of  him  whom  they  loved  to  call  'Father 
Lyman.'  " 

He  died  at  Hilo,  October  4,  1884.  Of  the  eighty- 
one  years  of  his  earthly  life,  fifty-two  were  spent  on 
missionary  ground. 

He  married,  November  2,  1831,  Sarah,  daughter  of 
Deacon  Salmon  and  Mary  (Moore)  Joiner  of  Royal- 
ton,  Vermont.  She  died  at  Hilo,  December  7,  1885, 
— "A  mother  in  Israel." 

The  following  is  a  brief  record  of  four  of  the  seven 
children  born  to  them.  Henry  Munson  Lyman  was 
born  on  the  Island  of  Hawaii,  November  26,  1835,  and 
after  graduating  at  Williams  in  1858,  with  Phi  Beta 
Kappa  rank,  studied  medicine  at  Harvard  and  New 
York  and  was  appointed  assistant  surgeon  in  the  army. 
He  subsequently  removed  to  Chicago,  and  from  1870 
during  his  active  life  held  a  place  on  the  faculty  of 
Rush  Medical  College.  He  was  the  author  of  several 
books  on  Anaesthetics  and  Insomnia,  and  was  often  con- 
sulted by  other  physicians  as  a  recognized  authority. 
He  attained  high  rank  as  a  practitioner,  was  an  eminent 
teacher  and  a  scholar  of  broad  culture.  He  died  in 
Evanston,  Illinois,  November  21,  1904.  Frederick 
Schwartz  Lyman  was  born  at  Hilo,  in  1837,  and  mar- 
ried Isabella,  daughter  of  Levi  Chamberlain,  one  of  the 
earliest  missionaries  to  the  Sandwich  Islands,  and  was 
in  1870  Circuit  Judge  of  Hawaii,  residing  on  his  plan- 
tation in  Kau,  Hawaii.  David  Brainerd  Lyman  was 
born  at  Hilo  in  1840,  came  to  the  United  States,  June, 
1860,  was  graduated  from  Yale  in  1864,  and  from 

[158] 


Biographical  Sketches 

Harvard  Law  School  in  1866,  and  became  a  distin- 
guished lawyer  in  Chicago,  Illinois,  where  he  died, 
April  8,  1914.  Rufus  Anderson  Lyman,  another  son, 
was  the  Lieutenant-Governor  of  the  Island  of  Hawaii 
in  1870. 

DAVID  WHITE,  son  of  Enoch  and  Sarah  (Lankton) 
White,  and  grandson  of  Ebenezer  White,  was  born  in 
Pittsfield,  Massachusetts,  March  23,  1807.  In  Smith's 
"History  of  Pittsfield,"  there  are  references  both  to  the 
father  and  grandfather  of  Mr.  White.  In  speaking  of 
the  erection  of  one  of  the  edifices  of  the  First  Congre- 
gational Church  of  Pittsfield,  Mr.  Smith  says:  "The 
cornerstone  of  the  church  was  laid  on  the  28th  of  May, 
1852,  by  Rev.  Dr.  Todd,  who  made  an  appropriate  ad- 
dress. There  were  other  ceremonies,  such  as  are  usual 
on  similar  occasions,  but  perhaps  the  most  interesting 
feature  of  the  day  was  the  presence,  seated  on  the  plat- 
form, of  respected  and  venerable  citizens  who  had  wor- 
shipped in  the  first  humble  sanctuary  of  the  parish,  and 
had  also  aided,  sixty-one  years  before  the  present  cere- 
monies, in  raising  the  frame  of  the  second  meeting- 
house. They  were  Butler  Goodrich,  John  Dickinson, 
Oren  Goodrich,  Elijah  Robbins,  and  Enoch  White." 

The  following  passage  refers  to  his  grandfather: 
"The  first  mill-dam  in  Pittsfield — built  by  Deacon  Cro- 
foot  some  few  rods  south  of  the  Elm  Street  bridge — 
passed,  in  1778,  into  the  hands  of  Ebenezer  White,  un- 
der a  lease  of  nine  hundred  and  ninety-nine  years  from 
the  town.  It  remained  in  the  hands  of  Mr.  White,  and, 
after  his  death,  of  his  son,  Enoch,  until  1832;  Mr. 
Enoch  White  continuing  and  improving  the  saw  and 
grist-mill  on  the  east  end  of  the  dam,  and  the  successors 
of  Jacob  Ensign  maintaining  the  fulling-mill  on  west 
end;  Jonathan  Allen,  2d,  being  the  last.  Simeon 
Brown  also  built  a  bark-mill,  for  the  supply  of  the  tan- 

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Williams  College  and  Missions 

nery,  just  below  the  dam,  and  obtaining  its  power  from 
it."  Another  statement  of  this  history  is  that  Ebenezer 
White  lived  on  the  road  to  Dalton,  East  Street. 

David  White  entered  college  from  Pittsfield  in 
1824,  but  for  some  reason  remained  here  only  one  year, 
going  to  Union  College,  where  he  was  graduated.  At 
Williams  he  was  a  member  of  the  Philologian  Society, 
with  Phi  Beta  Kappa  rank.  After  graduation  he 
taught  for  a  time,  and  then  entered  Princeton  Theo- 
logical Seminary  in  1832,  graduating  in  1835.  He 
was  ordained  as  an  evangelist  at  Pittsfield  by  the 
Berkshire  Congregational  Association  on  October  9, 
1836,  and  on  the  31st  of  the  same  month,  accom- 
panied by  his  wife  and  Mr.  Benjamin  Van  Rens- 
selaer  James,  he  embarked  at  Baltimore,  bound  for 
Cape  Palmas,  Western  Africa,  where  he  was  to  be  as- 
sociated with  Mr.  Wilson  at  that  station.  The  party 
arrived  at  Cape  Palmas  in  good  health  on  December  25, 
just  two  years  after  the  arrival  of  Mr.  Wilson.  Mr. 
White  wrote:  "We  were  cordially  welcomed  by  Mr. 
Wilson  and  wife,  and  were  most  happy  in  finding  them 
enjoying  excellent  health,  and  prosecuting  their  labors 
with  the  prospect  of  great  success.  Everything  in  con- 
nection with  the  mission,  so  far  as  we  can  judge,  en- 
courages us  to  believe  that  much  good  has  been  effected 
by  the  mission  among  this  people.  Everything  around 
us  makes  us  more  and  more  satisfied  with  the  field  of 
labor  which  we  have  chosen.  While  much  remains  to 
be  done  before  this  can  become  a  virtuous  and  intelli- 
gent people,  every  effort  to  render  them  such  is  crowned 
with  apparent  success.  Our  hearts  are  drawn  out  to 
them,  and  it  will  be  our  pleasure  to  devote  ourselves  to 
their  good. 

"Yesterday  (27th)  the  king  and  nine  of  his  head- 
men called  to  welcome  us  to  their  country.  They  ex- 
pressed much  pleasure  at  seeing  us,  and  a  willingness 

[160] 


Biographical  Sketches 

to  facilitate  our  operations.  They  are  beginning  to  see 
the  importance  of  schools  for  their  children;  and 
urgent  requests  are  almost  daily  made  for  schools  to 
be  opened  in  the  adjoining  towns." 

But  these  pleasant  anticipations  were  doomed  to  an 
early  and  most  sad  disappointment.     In  less  than  one 
month  after  writing  the  lines  just  quoted,  on  January 
23,  Mr.  White  died  of  fever,  and  Mrs.  White  died  of 
the  same  disease  on  January  28.     But  even  in  this  short 
period  of  service,  both  Mr.  and  Mrs.  White  had  been 
able  to  do  work  that  won  the  affection  of  the  natives. 
The  very  Sabbath  before  his  death  Mr.  White  had 
preached  to  the  people  through  an  interpreter,  and  had 
made  a  deep  impression  by  the  great  emphasis  with 
which  he  had  told  them  that  it  might  be  the  last  time 
that  they  should  hear  his  voice.     A  letter  from  Mr. 
Wilson,  published  in  the  Missionary  Herald  for  1837, 
gives  a  full  account  of  the  sickness  and  death  of  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  White.     The  following  is  an  extract  from 
Mr.  Wilson's  letter:     "Every  interview  he  had  with 
this  people  made  them  feel  he  was  their  friend,  and  that 
he  had  come  to  Africa  for  their  good.     He  and  I  vis- 
ited all  the  native  settlements  between  this  place  and 
King  Baphro's  town,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Cavalry  River, 
the  week  after  his  arrival.     This  visit  enlisted  his  feel- 
ings very  deeply  in  the  salvation  of  this  people,  and  he 
frequently  said,  'How  interesting — how  interesting  a 
field  is  this!     Oh!  that  my  brethren  in  America  could 
only  see  what  I  see!'     Many  times  he  was  affected  to 
tears,  as  he  turned  his  eyes  upon  the  lively  groups  of 
boys   and  girls  who   surrounded  us   in   every  village 
through  which  we  passed. 

"Nor  were  the  feelings  of  his  dear  wife  less  engaged. 
Her  only  desire  to  live,  as  she  frequently  said,  was  to 
do  good  to  this  people." 

On  October  12,  1836,  Mr.  White  married  Helen 

C  i«  ] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

Marcia  Wells  of  Newburgh,  New  York,  who  was  born 
in  Cambridge,  Washington  County,  New  York,  No- 
vember 24,  1813. 

CLASS  OF  1829 

SIMEON  HOWARD  CALHOUN,  the  sixth  of  nine  chil- 
dren of  Andrew  and  Martha  (Chamberlin)  Calhoun, 
was  born  in  Boston,  August  15,  1804.  Andrew  Cal- 
houn was  a  merchant,  and  he  and  his  wife  were  among 
the  original  members  of  Park  Street  Church.  Young 
Calhoun,  from  the  age  of  six  till  ten,  enjoyed  the  pas- 
toral instruction  of  Rev.  Dr.  Griffin,  who  subsequently 
became  president  of  Williams  College.  Dr.  Griffin's 
ministry  made  a  lasting  impression  upon  the  youth.  In 
December,  1814,  the  family  removed  to  Rindge,  New 
Hampshire,  where  they  came  under  the  pastoral  care 
of  Rev.  Dr.  Seth  Payson.  In  1821,  the  family  removed 
to  Canajoharie,  New  York,  where  the  father  had  pur- 
chased a  farm.  Here  the  son  fitted  for  college,  devot- 
ing some  of  his  time,  also,  to  farming  and  teaching.  In 
his  twenty-third  year  he  entered  the  Junior  class  at 
Williams,  where  his  maturity  and  superior  talents  en- 
abled him  to  attain  a  high  rank  as  a  scholar  and  gave 
him  a  large  influence  among  the  students.  Among  his 
classmates  were  Samuel  Irenaeus  Prime,  and  Lowell 
Smith,  who  became  a  missionary  in  the  Hawaiian  Is- 
lands. Mr.  Calhoun  was  a  member  of  the  Philotech- 
nian  Society,  of  which  he  was  for  a  time  president.  He 
was  graduated  with  Phi  Beta  Kappa  rank,  and  was  one 
of  the  speakers  at  Commencement,  the  subject  of  his 
oration  being,  "Clinton  and  Canning."  Owing  to  the 
death  of  George  Ashley  Williams,  to  whom  the  honor 
had  been  assigned,  Mr.  Calhoun  was  appointed  to  de- 
liver also  the  Salutatory  Oration  in  Latin.  While  he 
was  a  superior  scholar,  he  was  not  religious, — while  in 
college  he  was  a  sceptic  and  an  opposer  of  religion. 

[162] 


Biographical  Sketches 

After  graduation,  he  taught  three  years  in  the  High 
School  at  Springfield,  Massachusetts,  at  the  same  time 
entering  his  name  as  a  student  of  law  in  the  office  of  his 
brother,  the  Hon.  William  B.  Calhoun.  In  1831.  the 
death  of  his  mother,  who  had  devoted  him  to  the  life  of 
a  missionary,  brought  vividly  to  his  mind  her  prayers 
and  lessons,  and  led  to  his  conversion.  In  1833,  he  ac- 
cepted a  tutorship  in  Williams  College,  which  he  held 
for  nearly  three  years.  His  zeal  and  activity  now  in 
inculcating  religious  truth  among  the  students  were 
more  than  commensurate  with  the  indifference  he  had 
shown  to  religion  in  his  student  days.  Rarely,  prob- 
ably, in  the  history  of  the  college  has  there  been  a 
stronger  religious  influence  exerted  than  at  this  period, 
when  Dr.  Griffin  was  president,  Mark  and  Albert  Hop- 
kins were  professors,  and  Simeon  H.  Calhoun  was  tu- 
tor. From  the  classes  of  1834-46,  thirty-five  per  cent 
of  the  students  entered  the  ministry,  and  of  this  number 
nearly  thirty  became  missionaries,  either  in  the  foreign 
or  home  field.  Of  this  number  was  David  Tappan 
Stoddard,  the  missionary  to  Persia,  who  was  for  some 
time  a  student  at  Williams.  In  the  life  of  Stoddard  it 
is  stated  that  his  influence  was  decidedly  in  favor  of  or- 
der and  good  morals,  and  that  "this  was  owing  in  no 
small  degree  to  the  excellent  influence  of  Mr.  Simeon 
H.  Calhoun,  who  was  then  tutor  in  college."  Young 
Stoddard  writes  of  him:  "Our  tutor  has  already  be- 
come very  dear  to  me,  and  seems  almost  a  second  father. 
Indeed,  he  is  so  considered  by  all  the  students,  who  go 
to  him  for  advice  and  direction  as  to  one  in  whom  they 
place  implicit  confidence.  By  his  unwearied  exertions 
he  has  rendered  himself  so  necessary  to  the  college  that 
it  would  seem  that  the  college  could  not  well  exist 
without  him." 

Mr.  Calhoun  did  not  study  at  a  theological  semi- 
nary, but  while  a  tutor  in  college  he  devoted  consider- 

[163] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

able  time  to  the  study  of  theology,  receiving  more  or  less 
of  direction  and  assistance  from  President  Griffin  and 
Professor  Mark  Hopkins.  He  was  licensed  to  preach 
by  the  Berkshire  Association  in  June,  1836,  and  in  Oc- 
tober following,  at  Springfield,  was  ordained  as  an 
evangelist.  He  had  previously  received  an  invitation 
from  the  American  Bible  Society  to  act  as  their  agent 
in  the  Levant.  He  had  been  for  some  time  greatly  in- 
terested in  the  Greek  people,  and  on  the  4th  of  July, 
1829,  he  had  delivered  before  the  faculty  and  stu- 
dents in  the  chapel  an  oration  on  the  subject:—  "The  in- 
timate connection  between  Liberty  and  Knowledge," 
the  peroration  of  which  was  inspired  by  the  thought  of 
Greek  independence.  Gladly  accepting  the  appoint- 
ment of  the  Bible  Society,  on  the  17th  of  November, 
1836,  he  left  the  United  States  for  the  Levant,  and 
reached  Smyrna  January  1,  1837.  He  labored  suc- 
cessfully in  this  position  for  seven  years,  during 
which  time  he  made  occasional  trips  from  Smyrna 
as  a  center,  to  Constantinople,  Greece,  Egypt, 
and  Syria.  A  single  extract  from  his  journal,  of 
date  February  7,  1839,  will  give  an  idea  of  the  ex- 
tent and  importance  of  his  work.  "During  the  year 
1838,"  he  writes,  "more  than  20,000  New  Testaments 
and  portions  of  the  Old  were  circulated  in  the  kingdom 
of  Greece.  This  is  a  greater  number  than  has  been  dis- 
tributed in  any  previous  year.  Between  10,000  and 
11,000  were  distributed  at  the  expense  of  the  American 
Bible  Society,  the  rest  at  the  expense  of  the  British  and 
Foreign  Bible  Society." 

In  1843  he  received  an  appointment  of  the  Ameri- 
can Board  as  a  missionary,  and  in  July,  1844,  he  joined 
the  Syrian  Mission,  and  was  put  in  charge  of  the  sem- 
inary at  Abeih,  on  Mount  Lebanon, — a  seminary  for 
training  young  men  to  be  teachers  and  preachers.  To 
this  work  he  devoted  his  entire  life.  The  peculiar  sim- 

[  164  1 


Biographical  Sketches 

plicily  and  ardor  of  his  piety,  for  which  he  was  noted 
when  he  was  tutor  at  his  Alma  Mater,  especially  qual- 
ified him  for  his  great  work  as  an  instructor  of  native 
preachers  in  Syria. 

Of  his  work  and  surroundings,  his  classmate,  Dr. 
Prime,  who  visited  him  in  his  mountain  home  in  1854, 
wrote:  "It  was  a  very  lowly  cot  in  which  he  received 
me,  his  classmate  and  college  friend.  In  the  midst  of 
forty  Arab  boys,  he  was  at  work  with  the  zeal  and  zest 
that  would  have  inspired  him  in  the  highest  pulpit  in  our 
land.  He  was  happy  there.  We  wandered  over  the 
hills  together,  and  journeyed  to  Tyre  and  Sidon,  and 
Nazareth  and  the  ancient  Shechem  and  Jacob's  well;  on 
the  plains  of  Sharon  he  related  the  story  of  his  conver- 
sion, and  of  his  new  life  in  God.  He  had  studied  the 
Bible  till  its  words  were  so  familiar  that  any  text  in  its 
history,  prophecy,  gospel  or  song,  was  localized  without 
reference.  Its  spirit  was  so  mixed  with  his  that  all  his 
words  were  grace.  He  breathed  as  if  heaven  were  his 
present  home.  Cheerful  and  free  from  cant  or  affecta- 
tion; enjoying  as  in  college  "a  good  thing"  when  it  was 
said;  abounding  in  reminiscence  and  anecdote  and  en- 
tertaining in  his  conversation  always,  he  lived  above  the 
world  while  he  was  in  it,  and,  like  Enoch,  walked  with 
God." 

The  Missionary  Herald  for  December,  1868,  con- 
tains an  article  on  "Lebanon  and  the  Abeih  Seminary," 
prepared  by  Messrs.  Calhoun  and  H.  H.  Jessup,  which 
contains  the  following  description  of  the  scenery  and 
inhabitants :  "The  view  from  the  roof  of  the  seminary 
is  extensive  and  beautiful.  We  have  a  semi-circle 
of  sea  (the  Mediterranean),  to  the  west  and  north; 
and  behind  us,  the  lower  ridges  of  Lebanon,  intersected 
by  well-cultivated  valleys.  A  walk  of  fifteen  or 
twenty  minutes  takes  us  to  the  height  above  the  vil- 
lage, from  which  we  have  a  magnificent  prospect  of  the 

[165] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

higher  ranges  and  peaks  of  the  goodly  mountain.  To 
the  south  and  southwest,  the  vision  stretches  away  into 
the  territory  of  the  old  tribes  of  Naphtali  and  Asher, 
and  reaches  Tyre  and  Sidon  and  Sarepta,  on  the  coast. 
We  have  often  seen  the  mountains  on  the  island  of 
Cyprus,  more  than  one  hundred  miles  distant. 

'The  Lebanon,'  as  it  is  usually  called,  is  a  range  of 
mountains  stretching  on  towards  the  north  from  the 
borders  of  Galilee,  seventy-five  or  eighty  miles.  It  is 
eminently  a  'goodly  mountain.'  The  number  of  in- 
habitants is  about  300,000,  more  than  half  of  whom  are 
of  the  Papal  Church.  The  Druzes  number  about  55,- 
000;  the  remainder  are  adherents  of  the  Greek  Church 
and  Mohammedans,  of  both  the  Turkish  and  Persian 
sects.  The  universal  language  is  Arabic." 

Dr.  Calhoun  was  eminent  both  as  a  teacher  and 
preacher.  He  trained  most  of  the  teachers  and  preach- 
ers who  are  now  employed  in  the  Syrian  mission  of  the 
Presbyterian  Board,  besides  several  who  are  engaged 
by  other  societies  in  Syria,  Palestine,  and  Egypt.  The 
success  of  his  seminary  at  Abeih  had  no  little  influence 
in  leading  to  the  founding  of  other  institutions, — like 
Robert  College  and  the  girls'  school  at  Beirut.  He 
was  also  pastor  of  the  church  on  Mount  Lebanon.  Be- 
ing well  versed  in  the  Arabic  and  Turkish  languages, 
he  rendered  important  services  in  translation,  and  as- 
sisted Dr.  Goodell  in  his  first  translation  of  the  Bible 
into  Turkish.  His  influence  was  not  confined  to  the 
people  of  the  Orient.  He  visited  the  United  States  in 
1847,  returning  to  Syria  in  1849,  and  again  for  a  short 
time  in  1866,  and  finally  in  1875.  In  all  of  these  visits 
he  sowed  the  seed  of  goodly  influence  in  American 
churches,  especially  in  the  Congregational  and  Presby- 
terian bodies,  under  the  Foreign  Board  of  both  of 
which  he  had  served  as  a  missionary.  Especially  re- 
markable and  impressive  were  the  addresses  he  made  at 

[166] 


Biographical  Sketches 

the  missionary  prayer  meeting  and  praise  meeting  at 
the  Commencement  of  Williams  College  in  1876,  and 
at  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
the  same  year.  His  speech  on  both  these  occasions  was 
not  only  eloquent,  but  glowed  with  a  kind  of  inspira- 
tion, while  his  venerable  appearance  and  tremulous 
voice  were  a  prophecy  of  the  end  which  was  near. 
During  this  year  he  often  spoke  of  his  desire  to  return 
to  Lebanon  as  his  home,  and  to  spend  his  days  there,  but 
his  health  failed  rapidly  and  he  died  at  Buffalo,  New 
York,  December  14,  1876. 

Dr.  Calhoun  was  gifted  by  nature  with  superior  in- 
tellectual powers,  and  had  he  continued  in  the  profes- 
sion which  he  first  chose,  he  might  have  won  high  dis- 
tinction at  the  bar  and  as  a  statesman.  The  family  to 
which  he  belonged  was  a  remarkable  one.  All  of  the 
several  sons  became  men  of  influence,  and  some  attained 
to  high  positions  in  the  councils  of  the  nation.  In  view 
of  his  finished  life,  no  one  would  presume  to  say  that 
in  choosing  to  be  a  missionary  in  Syria,  Simeon  Cal- 
houn did  not  choose  wisely.  Along  with  intellectual 
qualities  of  a  high  order,  from  his  parents,  in  whom  were 
united  the  Scotch  and  the  Protestant-Irish  elements, 
he  had  inherited  great  strength  of  character.  While 
he  was  far-sighted  and  sagacious  in  comprehending  the 
character  of  those  about  him,  simplicity  and  timidity 
were  marked  traits  in  his  character.  It  was  through 
dread  of  display  that  he  declined  to  receive  honorary  de- 
grees from  colleges.  It  is  not  strange  that  his  influence 
in  Syria  was  great  among  all  classes.  English  and 
German  residents,  as  well  as  American  missionaries, 
revered  him  and  often  resorted  to  him  for  counsel. 
Natives  who  were  not  of  his  faith,  and  of  whatever  re- 
ligion, placed  implicit  trust  in  him.  A  striking  instance 
of  this  was  shown  at  the  time  of  the  Druze  massacre, 
when  both  Maronites  and  Druzes  deposited  with  him 

[167] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

their  treasures,  while  they  fled  to  places  of  safety.  The 
ardent  piety  which  he  manifested  during  the  years  of 
his  tutorship  at  Williams  never  grew  faint,  and  till  the 
day  of  his  death  he  was  an  earnest  student  of  the  Word 
of  God  from  the  time  that,  in  answer  to  the  prayers  of 
a  godly  mother,  he  had  been  constrained  to  search  the 
Scriptures  for  the  revealed  way  of  life.  Hence  it  was 
that  at  the  seminary  at  Abeih  the  Bible  was  the  chief 
text-book,  and  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  were  stud- 
ied thoroughly,  through  the  entire  four  years'  course. 
Of  a  commanding  figure  and  with  a  strikingly  noble 
face,  he  always  impressed  one  with  the  magnetism  of  his 
presence.  Hence  it  was,  perhaps,  that  in  the  days  of 
his  venerable  dignity  and  power,  Dr.  William  Adams 
was  accustomed  to  call  him  "The  Cedar  of  Lebanon." 

His  Alma  Mater  conferred  on  him  the  honorary  de- 
gree of  Doctor  of  Divinity  in  1864. 

Dr.  Calhoun  was  married  September  19,  1848,  to 
Miss  Emily  Pitkin  Raynolds,  daughter  of  George  and 
Mary  (Cook)  Raynolds,  a  sister  of  Rev.  George  Cook 
Raynolds,  M.D.,  LL.D.  (Williams  1861),  missionary 
in  Van,  Eastern  Turkey.  She  was  also  a  relative  of  Rev. 
Richard  Salter  Storrs,  D.D.  (Williams  1807),  of 
Braintree,  Massachusetts,  and,  at  the  time  of  her  mar- 
riage, had  been  seven  years  a  resident  of  his  family.  She 
belonged  to  a  missionary  family.  Of  the  descendants  of 
her  grandfather,  Samuel  Raynolds,  ten  have  already 
engaged  in  missionary  work,  one  of  them  being  Mrs. 
William  G.  Schauffler,  who  was  a  mother  of  mission- 
aries. At  the  time  of  the  death  of  Dr.  Calhoun  there 
were  living  five  children: — four  daughters  and  a  son. 
The  oldest  daughter,  Emily  Raynolds  Calhoun,  mar- 
ried Dr.  Galen  Bancroft  Danforth,  and  was  connected 
with  the  Syrian  Mission  till  the  time  of  her  death  in 
1881.  Another  daughter,  Susan  Howard  Calhoun, 
married  Rev.  Charles  Newton  Ransom,  and  is  now 

[  168 


Biographical  Sketches 

connected  with  the  Zulu  Mission.  The  son,  Rev. 
Charles  William  Calhoun,  M.D.  (Williams  1873),  was 
connected  with  the  Syrian  Mission  till  the  time  of  his 
death  in  1883.  After  the  death  of  her  husband,  Mrs. 
Calhoun  returned  to  Syria,  and  for  several  years  la- 
bored there  among  the  women.  In  1885  she  returned 
to  America,  and  afterwards  accompanied  her  daughter, 
Mrs.  Ransom,  to  the  Zulu  Mission,  Natal,  South 
Africa,  where  for  several  years  she  labored  to  lead 
souls  to  Christ,  and  where  she  died  November  4,  1908, 
aged  84  years.  "This  estimable  lady,"  writes  Dr. 
H.  H.  Jessup,  "was  the  worthy  companion  of  so 
noble,  godly,  and  conservative  a  man,  and  made  his 
home  in  Abeih  a  fountain  of  blessed  influence  for  thirty 
years." 

Besides  assisting  Dr.  Gooddell  in  his  translation  of 
the  Bible  into  Turkish,  Dr.  Calhoun  prepared  and 
published  text-books  in  philosophy,  astronomy,  and 
theology. 

CHARLES  ROBINSON  was  born  in  Lenox,  Massachu- 
setts, December  29,  1801.  He  made  a  public  profes- 
sion of  religion  in  his  fourteenth  year,  and  on  December 
3,  1815,  united  with  the  Congregational  Church  in 
Lenox.  Soon  after  this  his  thoughts  were  turned  to- 
wards the  gospel  ministry,  but  so  many  obstacles 
seemed  to  stand  in  the  way  that  he  said  little  about  the 
desire  of  his  heart.  When  an  agent  of  the  American 
Education  Society  offered  him  assistance,  he  looked  up- 
on it  as  an  act  of  Providence  in  his  behalf. 

He  fitted  for  college  at  Lenox  Academy,  and  en- 
tered the  Freshman  class  at  Williams  in  1825.  Among 
his  classmates  were  Simeon  Howard  Calhoun,  Samuel 
Irenaeus  Prime,  and  Lowell  Smith.  He  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Philologian  and  Mills  Theological  Societies. 
At  graduation  he  had  for  a  Commencement  perform- 

[169] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

ance  a  conference  with  Lowell  Smith  on  "The  Past 
and  Future  Triumph  of  Truth." 

In  the  fall  of  1829  he  entered  Auburn  Theological 
Seminary,  from  which  he  was  graduated  in  1832. 
During  the  progress  of  his  education  he  had  often  con- 
sidered the  subject  of  the  conversion  of  the  heathen  in 
relation  to  his  personal  duty,  and  near  the  end  of  his 
course  in  the  seminary,  he  decided  to  offer  himself  to 
the  American  Board  should  there  be  a  call  for  more 
laborers.  He  sometimes  said  to  his  intimate  friends: 
"I  am  willing  to  go  and  labor  among  the  heathen,  al- 
though I  know  there  are  many  others  better  qualified; 
but  if  the  best  men  will  not  go,  then  those  who  are  will- 
ing ought  to  go."  In  the  summer  of  1832  he  was  ac- 
cepted by  the  Prudential  Committee  of  the  American 
Board,  and  was  appointed,  together  with  Mr.  Stephen 
Johnson,  a  fellow  student,  to  the  Siam  Mission.  He  was 
ordained  at  Lenox,  January  16,  1833.  On  June  10, 
of  the  same  year,  he  and  wife,  together  with  Messrs. 
Johnson,  Munson,  and  Lyman  and  their  wives, 
embarked  from  Boston  and  reached  Bangkok  July  25, 
1834. 

Like  all  other  pioneers  in  the  missionary  work,  Mr. 
Robinson  met  with  many  obstacles  and  discourage- 
ments, owing  largely  to  the  jealousy  of  the  Govern- 
ment in  respect  to  foreigners.  Coming  to  understand 
the  difficulty  of  giving  correct  impressions  as  to  the  re- 
ligious interest  or  the  moral  character  of  the  heathen, 
he  refrained  from  writing  much  concerning  the  state  of 
things  in  Siam.  In  one  of  his  earlier  letters  from  the 
mission  field,  he  writes  with  interest  about  the  Siamese 
language,  and  subsequent  letters  and  his  journal  clearly 
show  he  was  meeting  with  large  success,  while  he  wrote, 
though  guardedly,  of  the  extent  and  promise  of  his  field, 
of  religious  meetings  and  spiritual  blessings,  of  the  en- 
largement of  the  church  and  improvement  of  the 

[170] 


Biographical  Sketches 

schools.  In  connection  with  his  work  as  preacher  and 
teacher,  he  accomplished  much  in  the  way  of  translat- 
ing into  the  Siamese  language  portions  of  the  Old  and 
New  Testaments. 

His  health  began  to  be  impaired  in  the  spring  of 
1842.  He,  however,  labored  on  till  November,  1845, 
when  he  left  Siam,  hoping  to  return  in  a  few  months; 
but  after  a  trial  of  six  months  he  was  told  that  the  only 
hope  for  his  recovery  would  be  found  in  a  speedy  return 
to  a  cool  climate.  He  left  Saint  Helena,  February 
23,  1847,  for  New  Bedford,  in  very  feeble  health,  still 
hoping  to  see  his  native  land  once  more.  He  continued 
to  fail,  however,  till  the  morning  of  March  3,  when  he 
passed  away,  at  the  early  age  of  46.  The  body  was 
buried  at  sea. 

On  April  1,  1833,  he  married  at  Riga,  Monroe 
County,  New  York,  Miss  Maria  Church.  She,  with 
one  daughter  and  three  sons,  survived  him.  She  re- 
turned to  the  United  States  April  16,  1847,  and  died 
at  Brooklyn,  New  York,  January  9,  1886. 

An  obituary  notice  of  her  husband  was  prepared  by 
Mrs.  Robinson,  and  published  in  the  Missionary  Her- 
ald for  July,  1847.  The  following  extract  is  from  that 
notice:  "If  the  religious  character  of  Mr.  Robinson 
had  one  trait  more  prominent  than  another,  it  was  that 
confidence  which  may  be  said  to  have  had  its  foundation 
in  the  truth :  'He  that  spared  not  his  own  son,  but  de- 
livered him  up  for  us  all,  how  shall  he  not  with  him  also 
freely  give  us  all  things?'  This  was  a  subject  on 
which  he  delighted  to  dwell,  and  on  which  he  loved  to 
preach.  Another  feature  of  his  Christian  character 
may  be  found  in  that  expression  addressed  by  Paul 
to  the  Corinthians,  'And  that  he  died  for  all,  that 
they  which  live,  should  not  henceforth  live  unto  them- 
selves, but  unto  him  which  died  for  them  and  rose 
again/  ' 

[171] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

LOWELL  SMITH,  oldest  child  of  Deacon  Moses  and 
Lticretia  (Brown)  Smith,  and  grandson  of  Peletiah 
and  Rhoda  Smith,  was  born  in  Heath,  Massachusetts, 
November  27,  1802.  He  was  a  lineal  descendant  of 
Lieutenant  Samuel  Smith  of  Hadley,  Massachusetts, 
who  was  one  of  the  very  prominent  men  of  his  time  and 
place.  It  is  related  that  in  a  revival  with  which  the 
church  and  town  were  blessed  in  1822,  Lowell  Smith 
and  his  parents  were  among  the  converts.  The  son 
united  with  the  church  in  Heath  on  December  8,  of  the 
same  year.  The  father  was  a  farmer  and  blacksmith 
by  occupation.  In  later  years,  the  son,  in  giving  an  ac- 
count of  his  early  religious  experience,  wrote:  "For  a 
year  or  two  my  convictions  were  very  strong  that  it  was 
my  duty  to  forsake  the  farm  and  shop  and  prepare  my- 
self to  preach  the  gospel  to  the  destitute."  In  accord- 
ance with  these  convictions  he  pursued  a  course  of 
preparatory  study  and  entered  Williams  as  a  Freshman 
in  1825.  Two  of  his  classmates  were  Simeon  Howard 
Calhoun  and  Samuel  Irenaeus  Prime.  He  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Philologian  Society  and  of  the  Mills  Theo- 
logical Society.  At  the  Commencement,  September  2, 
1829,  he  took  part  in  a  Conference  with  a  classmate, 
Charles  Robinson,  on  the  subject, — "The  Past  and 
Future  Triumph  of  Truth."  After  graduation  he 
studied  theology  at  Auburn  Seminary,  where  he  grad- 
uated in  1832.  He  was  ordained  by  the  Frank- 
lin Association,  at  Heath,  September  26,  of  the  same 
year.  As  a  young  man  he  had  heard  of  the  reception 
of  the  gospel  by  the  natives  of  Hawaii,  and  he  now  re- 
solved to  offer  himself  as  a  missionary  to  the  heathen. 
He  went  out  under  the  auspices  of  the  American 
Board  with  the  fifth  reinforcement  to  the  Sandwich  Is- 
lands Mission,  sailing  with  his  wife  from  New  London, 
Connecticut,  November  23,  1832,  and  arriving  at  Hon- 
olulu May  1,  of  the  following  year.  With  them  also 

[172] 


Biographical  Sketches 

sailed  Benjamin  W.  Parker,  missionary,  and  wife,  and 
Lemuel  Fuller,  printer.  For  some  time  they  lived  in 
a  grass  hut,  without  door,  window,  or  floor.  They  were 
at  first  located  at  Molokai,  where  they  were  associated 
with  a  college  mate,  Rev.  H.  R.  Hitchcock  (Williams 
1828),  but  on  account  of  Mrs.  Smith's  health,  they  re- 
moved to  Ewa,  on  Oahu.  In  the  short  time  of  five 
months  he  mastered  the  language  so  as  to  use  it  in 
preaching  and  teaching.  In  1836  he  removed  to  Hon- 
olulu, and  the  following  year  established  the  Second 
Church,  of  which  he  remained  the  untiring  and  faithful 
pastor  for  more  than  thirty  years.  Soon  after  the 
establishment  of  this  church,  there  followed  a  great 
revival,  and  in  June,  1838,  he  received  into  church  mem- 
bership, at  one  communion,  433.  During  his  pastor- 
ate nearly  2000  members  were  brought  in  from  the 
world  and  nearly  1000  admitted  from  other  churches. 
In  an  interesting  letter,  dated  at  Honolulu,  November 
8,  1843,  addressed  to  the  Society  of  Inquiry,  Williams 
College,  and  now  preserved  in  the  College  Library,  Mr. 
Smith  writes:  "This  mission  has  been  in  operation 
twenty-three  years,  and  in  the  meantime  30,000  of  the 
people  have  been  baptized  into  the  name  of  the  sacred 
Trinity,  and  admitted  to  the  fellowship  of  the  Chris- 
tian church.  More  than  5000  were  received  to  church 
fellowship  during  the  year  1842.  After  deducting  the 
thousands  who  have  died  and  others  who  have  been  re- 
moved by  church  discipline,  the  whole  number  of  church 
members  now  in  regular  standing  is  about  24,000." 

His  labors  were  abundant,  not  only  as  a  preacher 
and  pastor,  but  also  in  the  field  of  education.  He 
trained  many  of  the  natives  to  be  preachers,  teachers, 
and  missionaries.  He  retired  from  the  pastorate  in 
1869,  but  still  labored,  in  various  ways,  for  the  welfare 
of  the  Hawaiians  till  the  end.  He  died  May  8,  1891. 

The  funeral  services  were  held  in  the  Kaumakapali 

[173] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

church,  and  were  attended  by  throngs  of  people,  to- 
gether with  members  of  the  diplomatic  corps,  and 
representatives  of  the  queen  and  Government.  The 
following  extract  is  from  an  article  published  in  the 
Friend  by  one  of  his  colleagues,  Rev.  S.  E.  Bishop: 
"If  we  were  to  specify  that  trait  of  Father  Smith 
which  impressed  us  most,  it  would  be  his  pure,  simple, 
single-heartedness.  He  did  not  seem  to  reason  much 
about  benevolence  or  'altruism.'  He  simply  went 
straight  forward  doing  all  the  good  in  sight.  With 
him  the  way  to  do  a  thing  was  to  do  it,  not  to  stop  and 
ponder  much  about  it.  He  seemed  to  think  little  about 
his  own  salvation,  but  to  toil  much  to  save  other  people. 
He  was  full  of  prayer,  leaning  wholly  upon  God.  His 
family  often  heard  his  low  tones  in  the  night  talking 
with  his  God  and  supplicating  mercies  for  many  people. 
His  life  was  a  blessed  and  holy  life,  and  his  departure  a 
blessed  and  sacred  ushering  into  the  rapture  of  God's 
presence.  How  many  thousands  of  chosen  Hawaiians 
have  welcomed  him  there,  whom  he  taught  and  led  in 
the  way  to  heaven!" 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Smith  visited  their  native  country  in 
1865-6. 

He  received  the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Divinity  from  his  Alma  Mater  in  1864. 

He  was  married  October  2,  1832,  to  Miss  Abba 
Willis  Tenney,  daughter  of  Gideon  Tenney,  of  Bran- 
don, Vermont.  She  died  at  Honolulu  January  31, 
1885.  There  were  born  of  this  marriage  seven  chil- 
dren. 

The  following  extract  concerning  the  life  and  char- 
acter of  Mrs.  Smith  is  from  the  Missionary  Herald  for 
1885:  "She  is  spoken  of  as  possessed  of  a  lovely 
Christian  character,  fulfilling  her  responsibilities  as 
wife,  mother,  missionary,  and  teacher  with  great  fidelity 
and  grace.  ,  .  .  For  fifty-two  years  Mrs.  Smith 

[174] 


Biographical  Sketches 

labored  in  various  ways  for  the  good  of  the  Hawaiian 
race,  always  aiding  her  husband  in  his  efforts,  and  part 
of  the  time  teaching,  for  which  work  she  was  eminently 
qualified.  For  many  years  she  had  been  President  of 
the  Hawaiian  Woman's  Board,  into  which  organiza- 
tion she  carried  all  her  faith  and  zeal." 


CLASS  OF  1830 

JESSE  LOCK  WOOD  was  born  at  North  Salem,  New 
York,  November  11,  1802.  He  was  induced  to  com- 
mence study  with  reference  to  being  a  Christian  minis- 
ter when,  as  he  expressed  it,  "he  saw  the  whiteness  of 
the  field  and  the  great  want  of  laborers."  He  pre- 
pared for  college  at  Clinton  Academy,  East  Hampton, 
Long  Island,  and  entered  Williams  as  a  Sophomore  in 
1827.  In  October,  1825,  two  years  before  entering  col- 
lege, he  united  with  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Lam- 
ington,  New  Jersey.  In  college  he  joined  the  Mills 
Theological  Society,  and  also  the  Philotechnian  Society, 
of  which  he  was  for  a  time  president.  At  Commence- 
ment he  appeared  in  a  Conference  with  two  of  his  class- 
mates, Jared  Reid  Avery  and  Nathan  Strong  Hunt, 
the  subject  being  "Oppressions  of  Modern  Greeks,  of 
our  Indians,  and  of  the  Children  of  Africa." 

After  graduation  he  studied  theology,  spending  two 
years  at  the  seminary  in  Princeton,  and  one  year  in 
New  Haven.  In  April,  1833,  he  was  licensed  to 
preach  by  the  First  Presbytery  of  Long  Island,  the 
session  being  held  at  Sag  Harbor,  and  on  the  18th  of 
the  following  September,  at  the  close  of  his  theological 
studies,  he  was  ordained  at  the  same  place,  and  by  the 
same  Presbytery,  as  a  missionary  to  the  Indians. 

On  October  18,  1833,  he,  with  his  wife,  left  New 
York  on  his  journey  to  the  Western  Cherokee  coun- 
try, arriving  at  Dwight  January  25,  1834.  The  field 

[175] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

to  which  Mr.  Lockwood  went  was  that  of  the  Arkansas 
Cherokees,  lying  west  of  the  Arkansas  Territory  and 
north  of  the  Arkansas  River.  The  population  of  the 
tribe  at  that  time  was  5000.  The  mission  there  had 
been  commenced  in  1817.  Mr.  Lockwood  entered  at 
once  on  his  missionary  labors,  being  stationed  at 
Dwight.  He  prosecuted  his  labors  with  great  dili- 
gence, but  after  a  service  of  five  months  he  died  of  fever 
at  Dwight,  July  11,  1834,  in  the  32d  year  of  his 
age.  An  obituary  notice  of  Mr.  Lockwood,  pre- 
pared by  his  colleague,  Rev.  Cephas  Washburn, 
appeared  in  the  Missionary  Herald  for  1834.  The  fol- 
lowing extract  is  from  that  article:  "Mr.  Lockwood 
was  an  excellent  young  man.  He  had  won  the  confi- 
dence and  love  of  all  the  family  and  of  all  the  Chero- 
kees who  had  become  acquainted  with  him.  We  cher- 
ished the  fond  expectation  that  he  would  live  to  be- 
come extensively  useful  among  this  people.  The  prov- 
idence which  has  so  quickly  removed  him  is  dark  and 
mysterious.  We  know  it  is  right,  and  we  would  bow 
with  submission  to  the  divine  will.  Yet  we  can  but 
feel  that  we  and  the  Cherokees  have  sustained  a  heavy 
loss.  For  him  we  cannot  mourn.  Divine  grace  had 
made  him,  in  an  eminent  measure,  meet  to  be  partaker 
of  the  inheritance  of  the  saints  in  light.  I  think  I  never 
saw  so  lovely  an  exhibition  of  the  mind  that  was  in 
Christ  Jesus,  as  was  given  by  that  dear  brother.  His 
attainments  in  piety  were  very  far  above  the  ordinary 
standard,  even  of  ministerial  or  missionary  piety.  Of 
him  it  might  truly  be  said  that  prayer  was  his  vital 
breath.  His  was  a  most  lovely  example  of  meekness, 
humility,  benevolence,  and  conscientiousness." 

Mr.  Lockwood  was  married  on  September  22, 
1833,  at  Gloucester,  Massachusetts,  to  Miss  Cassandra 
Sawyer,  daughter  of  Rev.  Moses  Sawyer,  formerly  of 
Henniker,  New  Hampshire.  She  studied  at  Ipswich 

[176] 


Biographical  Sketches 

Female  Seminary  under  Miss  Grant  and  Miss  Lyon. 
After  the  death  of  her  husband  she  returned  to 
Gloucester. 

DAVID  NEWTON  SHELDON,  son  of  David  and  Eliza- 
beth (Hall)  Sheldon,  and  grandson  of  Phineas  and 
Ruth  (Harmon  Smith)  Sheldon,  and  Luke  and  Eliza- 
beth (Cooley)  Hall,  was  born  in  Suffield,  Connecticut, 
June  26,  1807.  The  first  immigrant  ancestor  in  Amer- 
ica was  Isaac  Sheldon,  who  was  born  about  1629,  prob- 
ably near  London,  England,  and  who  probably  came 
as  a  boy  with  his  father  to  Dorchester,  Massachusetts. 
He  was  recorded  in  Windsor,  Connecticut,  in  1652,  and 
in  Northampton,  Massachusetts,  in  1654.  Isaac  Shel- 
don was  the  great-great-grandfather  of  the  subject  of 
this  sketch.  The  great-grandfather  removed  to  Suf- 
field, Connecticut,  in  1723,  where  many  of  his  descend- 
ants lived  after  him.  A  noteworthy  fact  about  the  an- 
cestry is  the  longevity  of  many  members  of  the  family. 
Both  the  parents  of  David  Newton  Sheldon  lived  to  be 
over  ninety  years  of  age.  His  grandfather  Sheldon 
lived  to  be  ninety,  and  the  grandfather  Hall  to  be 
eighty- two.  The  father  of  Mr.  Sheldon  was  a  farmer. 

The  son  fitted  for  college  at  Westfield,  Massachu- 
setts, and  entered  Williams  as  a  Sophomore  in  1827. 
Among  his  college  mates  were  Alonzo  Clark,  Simeon 
Howard  Calhoun,  Samuel  Irenaeus  Prime,  and  Wil- 
liam Rankin,  who  for  many  years  had  the  distinction  of 
being  the  oldest  living  graduate  of  the  college.  In  col- 
lege Mr.  Sheldon  was  a  member  of  the  Philologian 
Society  and  was  one  of  the  presidents  of  the  Society. 
Pie  excelled  in  scholarship  and  graduated  as  Valedicto- 
rian of  the  class.  The  subject  of  his  oration  at  Com- 
mencement was  "Importance  of  uniting  Active  with 
Contemplative  Habits."  Three  years  later  he  delivered 
the  Master's  Oration.  He  was  a  tutor  in  the  college 

L177] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

1831-32.  He  then  studied  theology  at  the  Newton 
Theological  Seminary,  from  which  he  was  graduated 
in  1835.  The  same  year  he  was  ordained  as  a  Baptist 
minister.  On  October  25  of  that  year,  he  and  his  wife 
sailed  from  New  York  to  go  as  missionaries  to  France. 
They  landed  at  Havre  November  21,  and  reached  Paris 
November  25. 

It  is  probable  that  while  a  member  of  the  seminary 
he  came  under  influences  which  led  him  to  undertake 
this  mission.  In  1832,  at  the  meeting  of  the  General 
Convention  of  the  Baptist  denomination  a  resolution 
was  adopted  instructing  the  Board  of  Managers  to  in- 
quire into  the  expediency  of  establishing  a  mission  in 
France.  After  suitable  inquiries,  the  Board  decided  to 
send  an  agent  to  France  to  inquire  into  the  conditions 
of  the  churches  there  and  the  opportunities  for  mission- 
ary work.  Rev.  Ira  Chase,  D.D.,  a  professor  in  the 
seminary  at  Newton,  was  appointed  for  this  purpose 
and  sailed  for  Havre  in  October,  1832.  In  the  report 
he  made  on  his  return  to  the  United  States  he  recom- 
mended the  establishment  of  a  permanent  mission  in  the 
country.  The  Board  adopted  this  recommendation  and 
sent  Mr.  Isaac  Willmarth,  then  a  member  of  the  semi- 
nary at  Newton,  to  commence  the  mission  at  Paris. 
He  reached  the  French  capital  in  June,  1834.  The  in- 
structions given  him  made  it  one  of  the  principal  ob- 
jects of  the  mission  to  train  young  men  for  the  gospel 
ministry.  A  church  of  ten  members  was  organized  in 
July,  1835,  and  in  November  of  that  year  Mr.  Sheldon 
and  Rev.  Erastus  Willard  arrived  in  Paris  and  joined 
the  mission.  They  spent  the  winter  at  the  capital  learn- 
ing the  French  language  and  assisting  Mr.  Willmarth 
in  preaching  in  English,  distributing  tracts  and  reli- 
gious books,  and  writing  for  the  press.  In  the  spring  of 
the  following  year  Messrs.  Willmarth  and  Willard  re- 
moved to  Douai,  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  near 

[178] 


Biographical  Sketches 

there  a  mission  school,  in  which  to  train  candidates  for 
the  ministry.  The  place  selected  was  Nomain,  a  village 
about  twelve  miles  from  Douai.  Although  the  school 
was  commenced,  the  original  plan  was  not  carried  out. 
Missionary  operations,  however,  were  carried  on  in  the 
north  of  France  from  various  points  where  there  al- 
ready existed  Protestant  churches.  In  the  meantime 
Mr.  Sheldon  was  occupied  with  mission  work  in  Paris, 
occasionally  making  visits  to  the  provinces  of  the 
North.  As  the  chapel  which  had  at  first  been  used 
was  inconveniently  situated,  the  public  services  of  the 
mission  were  held  at  Mr.  Sheldon's  own  house,  or  occa- 
sionally at  the  houses  of  the  church  members.  Pro- 
fessor Gamwell  in  his  "History  of  American  Baptist 
Missions"  states  that  "the  principal  labors  of  Mr.  Shel- 
don at  Paris  were  of  a  retired  and  private  character, 
and  were  devoted  to  the  dissemination  of  the  gospel  by 
other  agencies  than  that  of  preaching."  In  September, 
1837,  Mr.  Willmarth  returned  to  the  United  States  on 
account  of  feeble  health  and  left  many  additional  cares 
with  Mr.  Willard,  his  assistant  at  Douai,  who,  besides 
the  instruction  of  the  pupils  in  theology,  had  to  visit 
and  superintend  many  missionary  stations.  As  he  was 
compelled  thus  to  withdraw  more  and  more  from  the 
work  of  training  candidates  for  the  ministry,  which  was 
one  of  the  chief  objects  of  the  mission,  it  was  deemed 
best  that  Mr.  Sheldon  should  leave  his  station  at  Paris 
and  go  to  the  aid  of  Mr.  Willard  at  Douai.  Though 
the  prospects  of  the  mission  at  the  capital  were  at  that 
time  very  inviting  and  hopeful,  Mr.  Sheldon  removed 
to  Douai  in  April,  1839,  where  he  assumed  charge  of 
the  theological  pupils  and  conducted  service  every  Sab- 
bath in  the  English  chapel.  Mr.  Sheldon,  however, 
deciding  about  this  time  to  enter  upon  other  spheres  of 
usefulness  at  home,  returned  to  the  United  States,  land- 
ing in  New  York  on  November  17,  1839.  From  New 

[179] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

York  he  went  with  his  family  to  Halifax,  Nova  Scotia, 
arriving  there  May  16  of  the  following  year.  Here  he 
was  pastor  of  a  Baptist  church  till  November  5,  1841, 
when  he  went  to  Waterville,  Maine,  where  he  was  pas- 
tor of  the  Baptist  church  for  one  year.  He  then  became 
President  of  Waterville  College,  which  position  he  held 
for  ten  years,  1843-53.  During  this  period,  he  was  also 
Professor  of  Intellectual  and  Moral  Philosophy,  and 
from  1853  to  1889  was  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Trus- 
tees. In  1853  he  removed  with  his  family  to  Bath, 
Maine,  where  he  was  pastor  of  the  Baptist  Church 
about  three  years,  after  which  he  became  pastor  of 
the  Unitarian  Church  in  the  same  town.  In  1862  he 
returned  to  Waterville  and  became  pastor  of  the  Unita- 
rian Church  there,  which  position  he  held  till  1878.  He 
continued  to  reside  in  Waterville  till  his  death,  October 
4,  1889.  Dr.  Sheldon  was  spoken  of  as  "an  able 
preacher,  a  profound  scholar,  and  possessed  of  a  sin- 
gular grace  of  mind  and  character." 

He  was  married  October  15,  1835,  in  Chelsea, 
Massachusetts,  to  Rachel  Hobart  Ripley,  daughter  of 
John  and  Jane  (Molineux)  Ripley,  and  granddaugh- 
ter of  Nehemiah  and  Lydia  (Hobart)  Ripley,  and  de- 
scendant from  William  Ripley,  who  came,  probably, 
from  Hingham,  Norfolk,  England,  on  the  Diligent., 
and  settled  in  Hingham,  Massachusetts,  in  1638.  John 
Ripley  was  born  in  Hingham,  and  from  there  removed 
to  Boston,  where  Mrs.  Sheldon  was  born  December  3, 
1809.  Her  father's  mother  was  descended  from  Rev. 
Peter  Hobart,  son  of  Edmund  Hobart,  who  was  born 
in  England  and  came  to  Charlestown,  Massachusetts, 
in  1633,  later  establishing  himself  in  Hingham.  On  her 
mother's  side  Mrs.  Sheldon  was  of  French  extraction, 
and  possibly  descended  from  a  Huguenot  family.  She 
died  in  Lynn,  Massachusetts,  August  6,  1896.  Of  nine 
children  born  of  this  marriage,  a  son  and  two  daughters 

[180] 


Biographical  Sketches 

born  in  France  died  in  Waterville,  and  a  daughter  born 
in  Halifax  died  in  London,  England.  Four  sons  are 
living :  Henry  Newton,  who  was  graduated  at  Harvard 
in  1863,  and  received  from  his  Alma  Mater  the  degree 
of  LL.  D.  in  1908,  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
Massachusetts,  and  resident  in  Boston;  Orlando  Wil- 
bur, Biddeford,  Maine;  Chauncey  Cooley,  who  was 
graduated  from  Harvard  as  Bachelor  of  Arts,  in  1870, 
and  from  the  Medical  School  as  M.  D.  in  1873,  resident 
in  Lynn,  Massachusetts;  Edward  Stevens  (Harvard 
1872),  Professor  of  Romance  Philology  in  Harvard 
University, 

Mr.  Sheldon  received  the  honorary  degree  of  Doc- 
tor of  Divinity  from  Brown  University  in  1847,  was  a 
member  of  the  Maine  Historical  Society  and,  for  a 
time,  was  trustee  of  the  Newton  Theological  Institute. 

Besides  occasional  sermons  and  articles  in  the  Chris- 
tian Review,  he  published  a  volume  of  discourses,  "Sin 
and  Redemption"  (New  York,  1856). 


CLASS  OF  1831 

NATHAN  BENJAMIN,  son  of  Nathan  and  Ruth 
(Seymour)  Benjamin,  was  born  in  Catskill,  New  York, 
December  14,  1811.  The  father  served  with  distinction 
in  the  War  of  the  Revolution.  When  the  son  was  only 
two  years  old  the  father  died,  and  the  mother,  with  her 
seven  children,  removed  to  Williamstown,  Massachu- 
setts, which  now  became  the  home  of  the  family.  The 
immigrant  ancestor  of  the  family  was  John  Benjamin, 
who  came  from  Wales  in  1632,  and  helped  found  the 
present  city  of  Cambridge,  Massachusetts. 

The  son  was  for  a  short  time  at  Bennington  Acad- 
emy, Vermont,  but  was  prepared  for  college  chiefly 
under  the  tuition  of  Ebenezer  Kellogg  (Yale  1810), 
who  held  the  professorship  of  Ancient  Languages  in 

[  181  ] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

Williams  College  from  1815  to  1844.  He  entered  col- 
lege in  1827,  when  he  was  but  little  over  sixteen  years  of 
age.  He  was  not  then  a  professor  of  religion  and  had 
entered  upon  the  college  course  not  from  his  own  pur- 
pose, but  in  obedience  to  the  earnest  wishes  of  his 
mother.  He  became  hopefully  pious  in  his  Senior  year 
during  a  revival  of  religion  which  extended  through 
the  college  and  town.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
Mills  Theological  Society  and  of  the  Philotechnian  So- 
ciety, of  which  he  was  at  different  times  president,  vice- 
president  and  secretary.  He  took  good  rank  as  a 
scholar  and  was  one  of  the  speakers  at  Commencement, 
September  7,  1831,  the  subject  of  his  oration  being 
"Mahomet."  After  graduation  he  entered  at  once  upon 
the  study  of  theology,  spending  two  years  at  Auburn 
Seminary,  and  one  year  at  Andover.  He  subsequently, 
1834-36,  attended  medical  lectures  in  New  Haven, 
Connecticut,  and  in  New  York.  He  had  decided  to 
become  a  foreign  missionary  while  at  Andover,  and  on 
graduation  from  the  seminary  in  1834  had  received  an 
appointment  as  a  missionary  from  the  American  Board. 
On  April  21,  1836,  he  was  ordained  as  a  missionary  in 
Williamstown.  He  spent  a  part  of  this  year  in  labor- 
ing as  agent  of  the  Board  in  the  State  of  Vermont,  and 
in  July  of  the  same  year  he  embarked  with  his  wife  from 
Boston,  for  Smyrna  and  Greece.  He  spent  a  year  and 
a  half  at  Argos,  and  then  removed  to  Athens,  where  he 
labored,  with  great  fidelity,  for  six  years,  chiefly,  but 
not  exclusively,  in  connection  with  the  press.  During 
this  period  he  conducted  an  interesting  Bible  class, 
which  was  attended  by  fifteen  or  twenty  young  Greeks, 
students  in  the  University  or  Gymnasium  of  Athens. 
Two  of  these  students  were  subsequently  converted. 

In  1844  a  change  was  decided  upon  in  regard  to 
the  Greek  Mission  and  Mr.  Benjamin  was  transferred 
to  the  Armenian  field,  his  station  being  at  Trebizond. 

[182] 


Biographical  Sketches 

Arriving  here  in  August  of  that  year,  he  took  up  his 
new  work  with  cheerfulness,  although  the  change  in- 
volved the  giving  up  of  many  plans,  the  sundering  of 
many  ties,  and  the  acquisition  of  a  new  and  difficult  lan- 
guage. He  was  not  destined,  however,  to  remain  long 
at  this  post,  for  the  health  of  Mrs.  Benjamin  failed,  and 
by  the  advice  of  the  brethren  and  of  skilled  physicians 
they  returned  to  America.  This  was  in  1845,  and  after 
only  eight  months'  residence  in  Trebizond. 

Owing  to  the  continued  illness  of  Mrs.  Benjamin 
he  resigned  his  connection  with  the  Board.  He  subse- 
quently received  a  call  from  the  Congregational  Church 
in  North  Stockbridge,  Massachusetts,  to  become  their 
pastor.  He  was  seriously  considering  accepting  this  in- 
viting call  when,  with  the  improvement  of  his  wife's 
health,  came  urgent  letters  from  several  missionary 
friends  at  Trebizond,  Broosa,  and  Constantinople, 
strongly  urging  his  return  to  Turkey.  After  consulta- 
tion with  physicians,  and  with  the  unanimous  wish  of 
the  Prudential  Committee  of  the  Board,  he  decided  to 
return  to  mission  work.  He,  accordingly,  reembarked 
from  Boston  with  his  family  October  21,  1846,  and  ar- 
rived in  Smyrna  December  7.  Here  his  labors  were  to 
be  chiefly  in  connection  with  the  Armenian  press,  and 
this  field  at  this  time  was  fully  ripe  for  labors  in  the 
matter  of  translating  and  printing.  The  success  which 
subsequently  attended  the  preaching  of  the  Word  in 
Armenia  was  due,  in  no  small  measure,  to  the  services 
of  Mr.  Benjamin  in  sending  the  printed  Word  into  so 
many  homes.  He  understood  the  value  of  this  instru- 
mentality, and  so  entered  upon  his  work  with  the  zeal 
and  confidence  of  one  who  was  doing  just  the  work  to 
which  he  was  called  in  the  providence  of  God.  His  mis- 
sionary experience  of  nine  years  was  also  of  great  serv- 
ice to  him  in  enabling  him  to  enter  upon  active  labors 
almost  as  soon  as  he  arrived  in  Smyrna.  As  already  in- 

[183] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

timated,  his  labors  were  not  confined  to  the  department 
of  printing.  He  was  accustomed  to  make  tours  into  the 
surrounding  regions,  and  by  his  talks  with  individuals 
did  much  to  impart  a  knowledge  of  the  gospel.  A  letter 
published  in  the  Missionary  Herald  for  1848  gives  a 
full  account  of  a  tour  made  through  Asia  Minor,  when 
he  visited,  among  other  places,  Magnesia,  Thyatira, 
Laodicea,  and  Ephesus. 

In  the  spring  of  1852,  it  was  decided  to  remove  the 
printing  operations  from  Smyrna  to  Constantinople. 
In  accordance  with  this  plan,  Mr.  Benjamin  in  Octo- 
ber of  that  year  removed  with  his  family  to  the  Turkish 
capital.  Here,  although  the  labors  connected  with  the 
printing  became  more  onerous,  he  preached  regularly  in 
Greek  to  a  small  congregation  in  Pera,  and  took  his 
turn  in  preaching  to  the  English  congregation.  Be- 
sides these  duties,  he  was  treasurer  of  the  mission,  an 
office  which  laid  upon  him  great  responsibility  and  much 
extra  labor.  These  various  labors,  to  which  were  super- 
added  a  large  amount  of  miscellaneous  business  con- 
nected with  his  location  at  Pera,  naturally  weighed 
heavily  upon  him  and  excited  the  painful  anxieties  of 
his  friends.  On  January  12  he  was  attacked  with  what 
seemed  to  be  a  severe  cold,  but  which  soon  developed 
into  a  serious  illness.  The  best  medical  advice  and  the 
most  assiduous  nursing  could  not  avail  to  avert  the 
disease.  He  died  of  typhus  fever  January  27,  1855,  at 
the  age  of  43. 

The  whole  native  Protestant  community  mourned 
his  loss,  and  a  large  number  of  foreign  residents  man- 
ifested their  deepest  sympathy.  Although  the  day  of 
the  funeral  was  unusually  inclement,  the  chapel  was 
crowded  at  the  services,  which  were  partly  in  English 
and  partly  in  Armenian.  A  large  procession  of  Euro- 
peans and  natives  followed  the  body  to  the  place  of 
burial.  The  Protestant  Armenian  brethren  insisted  on 

[184] 


Biographical  Sketches 

the  privilege  of  carrying,  with  their  own  hands,  the  cof- 
fin to  the  grave,  nearly  a  mile  distant.  At  the  grave,  the 
chaplain  of  the  English  Embassy,  by  particular  re- 
quest, read  the  funeral  service  of  the  Church  of 
England. 

Probably  the  particular  department  of  missionary 
work  to  which  he  was  devoted  did  not  have  that  fre- 
quent mention  in  the  columns  of  the  Missionary  Herald 
which  the  labors  of  "preaching  missionaries"  received. 
But  the  importance  of  such  work  should  not  be  under- 
valued, and  Mr.  Benjamin  had  the  "testimony  of  a 
good  conscience,"  and  the  full  satisfaction  of  knowing 
that  he  was  doing  just  what  his  Master  would  have  him 
do.  While  the  preacher  in  mission  fields  speaks  to  a 
congregation  of  100  or  200,  Mr.  Benjamin  spoke  to 
tens  of  thousands,  and  his  influence  was  as  wide  as  the 
Armenian  field  and  will  go  on  for  all  time. 

Rev.  Dr.  Dwight,  one  of  the  associates  of  Mr.  Ben- 
jamin, published  in  the  Missionary  Herald  for  1855  a 
full  account  of  his  life  and  character.  The  following 
extract  is  from  that  paper:  "Mr.  Benjamin  was  pos- 
sessed of  many  peculiar  qualifications  for  the  mission- 
ary work.  His  mind  was  naturally  clear  and  shrewd; 
and  it  had  been  successfully  disciplined  under  the  best 
advantages  that  America  affords.  To  a  thorough  clas- 
sical training,  he  added  an  extensive  knowledge  of 
books,  and  to  this  a  thorough  knowledge  of  men.  Few 
excelled  him  in  sound  judgment,  and  in  enlarged  and 
sober  views.  His  opinions  were  formed  carefully,  and 
by  his  own  independent  investigation;  and  they  were 
expressed  modestly,  though  firmly,  whenever  they  were 
found  to  differ  from  those  of  others.  He  had  a  large 
share  of  what  is  usually  called  common  sense,  with  an 
order  and  system,  and  a  practical  talent,  which  fitted 
him  eminently  for  the  work  to  which  he  he  was  espe- 
cially called.  Blessed  with  a  remarkably  uniform  tem- 

[185] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

perament,  he  steadily  pursued  his  object,  performing 
faithfully  the  duties  of  each  successive  day  without  ex- 
citement, and  without  detraction.  Patient,  kind,  and 
affectionate,  he  won  the  hearts  of  all,  and  repelled  none. 
If  he  had  a  personal  enemy,  the  writer  is  ignorant  of  it. 
In  his  manners  he  was  eminently  courteous,  so  that  he 
had  a  good  report  'of  them  that  are  without.'  " 

Mr.  Benjamin  was  married  April  25,  1836,  to  Miss 
Mary  Gladding  Wheeler,  daughter  of  Samuel  G. 
Wheeler,  of  New  York  City.  She,  with  children,  sur- 
vived her  husband.  She  died  of  apoplexy,  March  3, 
1871,  at  Medford,  Massachusetts.  Samuel  Greene 
Wheeler  Benjamin  (Williams  1859),  author  and  art- 
ist, the  first  United  States  Minister  and  Consul-Gen- 
eral  to  Persia,  was  a  son. 

The  following  letter  will  be  read  with  interest,  dic- 
tated as  it  was  by  the  venerable  William  Rankin, 
LL.D.,  who,  at  the  time  of  writing,  at  the  age  of  101, 
was  the  only  surviving  classmate  of  Mr.  Benjamin  and 
the  oldest  living  graduate  of  this  college. 

Princeton,  N.  J., 

Dec.  16,  1911. 
Professor  John  H.  Hewitt, 

Williamstown. 
Dear  Professor  Hewitt: — 

In  reply  to  your  letter  of  the  12th  to  my  Father, 
he  wishes  me  to  write  and  say  that  after  the  graduation 
of  his  class  he  never  saw  Nathan  Benjamin.  He  re- 
members him,  however,  as  a  student  in  college,  a  boy 
of  a  loving  disposition,  against  whose  character  there 
was  no  word  of  reproach.  His  mother  and  sister  lived 
in  Williamstown,  but  Benjamin  had  a  room,  for  a  time 
at  least,  in  West  College. 

Three  years  after  his  graduation  my  Father  re- 
turned to  Williamstown  and  called  at  the  Benjamin 

[186] 


Biographical  Sketches 

home,  but  did  not  see  him ;  he  was  probably  at  that  time 
in  the  Theological  Seminary.  During  the  Senior  year 
in  college  there  was  a  revival  of  religion  and  Benjamin 
became  converted  at  that  time.  In  an  interview  had 
with  him  at  this  time, — their  only  interview  on  the  sub- 
ject of  religion  so  far  as  recalled  by  Father, — my 
Father  says  he  remembers  well  being  impressed  with 
the  change  in  his  views  of  life,  expressed  by  Benjamin. 
He  felt  convinced  that  his  attitude  towards  religious 
subjects  was  more  outspoken  and  decided,  and  he  was 
not  surprised  to  hear  after  graduation  that  he  was 
studying  Theology  and  had  decided  to  go  as  a  foreign 
missionary — a  decision  due,  he  thinks,  to  this  revival. 

Benjamin  went  to  the  East  under  the  American 
Board  and  died,  he  believes,  on  the  field. 

Hoping  that  this  may  in  some  measure  meet  your 
request,  and  with  the  regards  of  my  Father  and  myself, 
I  am 

Very  truly  yours, 

WALTER  M.  RANKIN. 


CLASS  OF  1832 

JOHN  DUNBAR,  son  of  John  and  Sarah  (Breaken- 
ridge)  Dunbar,  was  born  in  Palmer,  Massachusetts, 
March  7,  1804.  The  grandfather,  John  Dunbar,  Sr., 
of  Foxbury,  Massachusetts,  married  Esther  Boynton 
and  removed  with  his  family  of  seven  children  to 
Palmer,  some  time  after  1780.  The  subject  of 
this  sketch,  John  Dunbar  3d,  removed  in  early 
life  with  his  father's  family  to  Ware,  Massachusetts. 
He  entered  college  as  a  Freshman  in  1828.  He  was 
a  member  of  the  Philologian  and  the  Mills  Theolog- 
ical Societies.  He  was  a  successful  student,  receiv- 
ing an  appointment  and  being  one  of  the  speakers  at 
Commencement,  the  subject  of  his  oration  being 

[187] 


Williams  College  and  Mission^ 

"Habit  of  Philosophizing  on  Ordinary  Events." 
After  graduation  he  studied  theology  about  a  year  and 
a  half  in  Auburn  Seminary.  He  was  licensed  and  or- 
dained by  the  Cayuga  Presbytery,  at  Ithaca,  New 
York,  May,  1833.  In  1834  he  was  appointed  by  the 
Committee  of  the  American  Board  to  make  an  explor- 
ing tour  among  the  Indian  tribes  near  or  beyond  the 
Rocky  Mountains.  On  the  5th  of  May,  1834,  he  with 
Rev.  Samuel  Parker  (Williams  1806),  and  Mr.  Sam- 
uel Allis,  Jr.,  left  Ithaca,  New  York,  their  instructions 
being  to  visit  the  Pawnees  on  the  Platte  River,  and  if 
they  should  find  a  favorable  opening,  to  commence  a 
mission  there,  in  case  it  should  be  found  impracticable 
to  go  so  far  as  the  Rocky  Mountains.  On  reaching 
St.  Louis,  it  was  decided  that  Mr.  Parker  should  re- 
turn and,  if  possible,  obtain  other  associates;  while 
Messrs.  Dunbar  and  Allis  proceeded  up  the  Missouri 
River  as  far  as  Cantonment  Leavenworth,  about  350 
miles  by  land  from  St.  Louis.  Reaching  this  place  in 
June,  they  remained  till  September,  visiting  the  various 
tribes  of  Indians  located  thereabout,  collecting  informa- 
tion, and  making  preparations  for  their  future  labors. 
They  were  treated  with  much  hospitality  and  kindness 
by  the  officers  of  the  troops  stationed  there,  and  met 
with  missionaries  of  the  Baptist  and  Methodist  denom- 
inations. In  the  following  winter  they  went  out  with 
the  Indians  on  their  annual  hunt.  They  found  the 
Pawnees  an  interesting  tribe,  quite  friendly  to  the 
whites,  and  in  favor  of  schools.  They  found  the  tribe 
divided  into  four  bands, — Pawnee  Republicans,  Paw- 
nee Peeks,  Pawnee  Loups,  and  Grand  Pawnees, — 
amounting  in  all  to  6244  souls.  The  language  spoken 
by  the  four  bands  was  essentially  the  same  with  slight 
differences  in  pronunciation.  Mr.  Dunbar  reported 
that  after  about  a  year  and  a  half  he  had  so  far  acquired 
the  language  as  to  be  able  to  impart  instruction.  A 

[188] 


Biographical  Sketches 

journal  kept  by  him,  relating  his  experiences  and 
containing  much  interesting  information  about  the 
habits  of  the  Indians,  was  published  in  the  Missionary 
Herald  for  1835.  The  following  extract  explaining 
the  method  of  curing  the  buffalo  meat  is  from  that 
journal:  "The  buffalo  are  abundant  on  all  sides  of  us, 
and  we  are  making  a  large  quantity  of  meat  at  this 
place.  The  men  bring  in  more  or  less  meat  every  day. 
When  the  meat  is  brought  to  the  lodge,  the  women  take 
their  knives  and  cut  it  for  drying,  rolling  it  out  in  very 
thin  large  pieces.  This  being  done,  a  sort  of  frame- 
work is  set  up  within  the  lodge  over  the  fire,  on  which 
they  spread  the  meat  to  be  dried.  When  it  has  dried 
some,  but  not  so  much  as  to  become  hard,  it  is  taken 
down  and  pounded  out  flat.  This  operation  is  usually 
performed  with  their  feet,  but  sometimes  with  a  wooden 
pestle.  It  is  repeated  several  times  when  the  meat  is 
drying,  and  is  done  that  the  meat  may  pack  close  when 
dried  hard.  When  it  has  become  thoroughly  dry  and 
fit  for  packing,  it  is  taken  down  and  folded  in  pieces 
two  and  a  half  feet  long,  and  one  and  a  half  broad. 
These  pieces  are  done  up  in  balls,  and  inclosed  in  skin 
prepared  for  the  purpose,  and  often  fancifully  painted. 
They  sometimes  hang  up  their  meat  on  frames  in  the 
open  air,  but  it  does  not  dry  fast  at  this  season,  and 
freezes  at  night,  which  injures  it." 

In  the  autumn  of  1836  Mr.  Dunbar  returned  tem- 
porarily to  New  England,  in  accordance  with  the  in- 
structions received  from  the  Committee  of  the  Board. 
He  brought  with  him  the  manuscript  for  a  small  ele- 
mentary book  which  he  had  prepared  in  the  Pawnee 
language,  of  which  he  had  500  copies  printed. 

On  January  12,  1837,  he  was  married  to  Miss 
Esther  Smith  of  Hadley,  Massachusetts,  sister  of  the 
wife  of  Rev.  William  Hervey  (Williams  1824),  of  the 
Mahratta  Mission;  and  with  her  he  started  from  the 

[189] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

interior  of  the  State  of  New  York  about  the  middle  of 
February  to  return  to  the  Pawnee  country,  arriving  at 
Bellevue  May  7.  On  account  of  the  unsettled  condi- 
tion of  affairs  among  the  Indians,  they  remained  the 
most  of  the  year  after  their  arrival  at  the  United  States 
Agency  at  Bellevue. 

Besides  establishing  schools  and  giving  religious  in- 
struction, one  object  of  the  mission  was  to  induce  the 
Indians  to  lead  a  settled,  agricultural  life,  that  they 
might  procure  for  themselves  the  means  of  comfortable 
assistance.  For  this  purpose  the  United  States  Gov- 
ernment furnished  them  with  oxen  and  sent  among 
them  a  farmer  and  two  teachers,  and  two  blacksmiths. 
For  a  time,  Mr.  Dunbar  had  sole  charge  of  all  the  af- 
fairs of  the  mission,  besides  various  cares  imposed  on 
him  by  the  agent,  and  in  consequence  had  little  time 
for  giving  religious  instruction.  When,  subsequently, 
a  prospect  of  successful  labor  was  opening  before  him, 
the  successive  attacks  of  the  Sioux  upon  the  Pawnee 
village  made  it  necessary  for  the  missionaries  to  retire 
from  the  country  and  the  mission  was  given  up. 

Mr.  Dunbar  was  subsequently  settled  in  Oregon, 
Hart  County,  Missouri.  He  next  removed  to  Kansas, 
where  he  preached  and  cultivated  a  farm.  He  died  in 
1857,  leaving  a  family  of  seven  children.  Mrs.  Dun- 
bar  had  died  in  1856. 


CLASS  OF  1833 

WILLIAM  TRACY,  fourth  son  of  David  and  Susan- 
nah (Capron)  Tracy,  and  grandson  of  Deacon  Andrew 
and  Ruth  (Smith)  Tracy,  was  born  in  Norwich,  Con- 
necticut, June  2,  1807.  The  grandmother,  Ruth 
Smith,  was  a  daughter  of  Captain  Elijah  Smith  of 
Barnstable,  Massachusetts. 

The    family   traces   its  descent    from   Lieutenant 

[190] 


Biographical  Sketches 

Thomas  Tracy,  of  Tewksbury,  England,  who  landed 
in  Salem,  Massachusetts,  in  1636,  moved  to  Hart- 
ford, Connecticut,  in  1637,  thence  to  Saybrook  in  1638, 
and  in  1660  settled  in  Norwich.  He  was  a  direct 
descendant  of  the  Saxon  kings  of  England.  The 
family  is  represented  in  English  nobility  by  Baron 
Sudley,  of  Toddington.  Lieutenant  Thomas  Tracy, 
the  emigrant,  is  spoken  of  as  evidently  a  man  of  talent 
and  activity,  skilful  in  the  management  of  various  kinds 
of  business.  In  1659,  he  was  one  of  two  witnesses  to 
the  deed  transferring  the  Township  of  Norwich  to  its 
settlers,  given  by  Uncas,  Sachem  of  the  Mohegans.  He 
also  represented  the  town  of  Norwich  at  twenty-seven 
sessions  in  the  legislature.  In  August,  1673,  he  was 
Lieutenant  of  the  "New  London  County  Dragoons," 
enlisting  to  fight  the  Dutch  and  Indians. 

William  Tracy  at  first  learned  the  trade  of  a  tin- 
smith, which  trade  he  followed  for  three  years  in  Phil- 
adelphia, before  studying  for  the  ministry.  He  joined 
the  class  of  1833  at  Williams  in  his  Sophomore  year, 
but  was  not  graduated,  having  left  college  for  the  pur- 
pose of  teaching  in  Kentucky.  He  studied  theology  at 
Andover  and  Princeton  Seminaries,  graduating  from 
the  latter  in  1836.  He  was  ordained  at  Philadelphia, 
April  12,  1836.  On  the  evening  of  November  20  of 
the  same  year,  in  the  Bowdoin  Street  Church,  Boston, 
he  was  one  of  the  fourteen  young  recruits — seven  mis- 
sionaries and  their  wives — who,  about  to  sail  to  reen- 
force  the  new  mission  at  Madura,  received  farewells 
from  the  Secretaries  of  the  Board,  and  Dr.  Nehemiah 
Adams,  who  spoke  in  behalf  of  the  churches.  Three 
days  later,  on  November  23,  they  sailed  from  Boston, 
and  reached  Madura,  after  spending  some  months  at 
Madras,  October  9,  1837.  In  the  following  year  Mr. 
Tracy  was  appointed  to  the  new  station  of  Tirumanga- 
lam,  twelve  miles  southwest  of  Madura,  and  soon  went 

[191] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

there  to  reside.  The  new  station  was  an  important  one, 
not  only  being  within  easy  reach  of  many  villages  and 
in  a  district  which  had  over  100,000  inhabitants,  but  sit- 
uated on  a  thoroughfare  for  the  multitudes  on  their  way 
to  and  from  the  monthly  feast  which  was  celebrated  a 
few  miles  away  from  Tirumangalam.  The  location 
thus  made  easy  the  distribution  of  the  Scriptures  and 
tracts  among  the  people  which  was  an  important  part 
of  the  labor  of  the  missionary,  Mr.  Tracy  also  opened 
in  the  neighboring  towns  many  schools,  which  served 
as  preaching  centers  over  a  wide  region.  His  fa- 
miliarity with  the  language  enabled  him  to  make  good 
use  of  these  opportunities  and  the  experience  gained 
in  this  kind  of  work  was  of  great  value  to  one  who  was 
to  become  the  trainer  of  teachers  and  pastors.  Mr. 
Tracy  early  interested  himself  in  schools.  The  year 
after  going  to  Tirumangalam  he  opened  a  boarding- 
school,  which,  in  1842,  had  grown  into  a  seminary  with 
thirty  pupils.  The  ideal  set  for  this  institution  is  ex- 
pressed in  his  annual  report  made  the  same  year:  "It 
is  evident  to  any  one  who  has  paid  attention  to  the  sub- 
ject that  the  immense  population  of  this  country  can 
never  be  converted  from  idolatry  and  instructed  in  the 
worship  of  the  only  living  and  true  God  by  the  per- 
sonal labors  of  foreign  missionaries.  That  must  be  done 
chiefly  through  the  agency  of  men  raised  up  from 
among  the  people  themselves  and  laboring  under  the 
direction  of  a  few  foreign  missionaries.  It  was  thus 
its  present  rulers  subdued  its  100,000,000  inhabitants; 
it  is  only  by  the  same  means  that  they  retain  their  pow- 
er. We  may  in  this  respect  learn  wisdom  from  the 
children  of  this  world.  Impressed  with  such  views,  the 
mission  established  boarding-schools  at  nearly  all  the 
stations,  as  the  first  step  towards  raising  up  a  native 
ministry."  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  methods 
here  recommended  by  Mr.  Tracy  became,  some  years 

[192] 


Biographical  Sketches 

subsequently,  the  accepted  policy  of  the  Board,  being 
adopted  on  the  recommendation  of  Secretary  Rufus  An- 
derson and  Dr.  A.  C.  Thompson  after  their  return  from 
their  visit  to  India  and  Ceylon,  whither  they  had  been 
sent  on  a  deputation  to  study  this  and  other  questions. 
This  seminary  with  sixty  pupils  was  removed,  in  1845, 
to  Pasumalai,  to  the  commodious  quarters  which  Mr. 
Tracy  himself  had  been  building.  His  letters  in  1844 
report  nine  Tamil  schools  connected  with  the  mission, 
with  315  scholars.  In  all  his  educational  work  Mr. 
Tracy  laid  great  emphasis  upon  religious  training,  and 
especially,  as  principal  of  the  seminary,  was  he  anxious 
to  send  forth  as  Christian  men  those  who  were  to  be- 
come teachers  and  guides  of  the  people.  With  the 
exception  of  a  period  spent  in  the  United  States  on  ac- 
count of  ill  health,  he  passed  twenty-two  years  of  happy, 
useful  life  at  Pasumalai.  He  had  among  his  pupils 
almost  all  of  the  pastors,  catechists,  and  teachers  of  the 
mission.  More  than  250  young  men  passed  through 
the  prescribed  course  of  study  during  his  administra- 
tion, and  in  most  of  the  classes  all  the  members  became 
professing  Christians  before  graduation.  Many  of 
these  have  engaged  in  evangelistic  work,  and  some  have 
occupied  honorable  positions  in  government  service. 

Much  of  his  time  was  given  to  preparing  in  the  ver- 
nacular text-books  in  theology  and  Bible  study.  When 
delegates  from  several  missions  undertook  the  revision 
of  the  Tamil  New  Testament,  he  was  placed  on  the  re- 
vision committee,  and  spent  upon  this  work  portions  of 
seven  or  eight  years.  Besides  this  work  and  the  duties 
of  preaching,  teaching,  and  distributing  Scriptures  and 
tracts,  he  gave  a  portion  of  his  time  to  itinerating.  In 
a  single  journey  of  this  sort,  he  visited  forty  villages, 
held  forty-nine  meetings,  and,  in  all,  preached  to  about 
2000  souls. 

In  1868,  Mr.  Tracy  and  his  wife  made  a  second  visit 

[193] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

to  this  country  and  soon  after  their  return,  in  1870,  they 
went  to  Tirupuvanam,  where,  though  feeble,  he  labored 
to  the  last,  aiding  in  distributing  the  funds  raised  in 
England  for  the  famine-stricken,  and  ministering  to 
the  sick  and  distressed. 

In  the  Missionary  Herald  for  April,  1877,  there  ap- 
peared a  few  months  before  his  death  a  short  article 
written  by  him  on  "Forty  Years  of  Mission  Life." 
The  following  extract  from  that  paper  records  some 
of  the  more  striking  changes  he  had  witnessed  in  the 
two  score  years  of  mission  work.  "I  am  reminded," 
he  writes,  "that  day  before  yesterday  ended  forty  years 
from  the  day  I  left  my  father's  house  on  my  way  to 
India, — forty  years  filled  with  mercies  and  with 
proofs  of  the  divine  faithfulness, — and  forty  years  of 
unbroken  pleasant  intercourse  with  the  officers  of 

the  American  Board Forty  years  have  made 

many  and  great  changes  in  the  district.  Then,  there 
were  scarcely  any  native  Christians,  except  a  few 
connected  with  the  regiments  stationed  here;  now, 
there  are  over  8000  connected  with  the  mission,  in 
hundreds  of  villages.  Then,  there  were  no  churches 
except  those  at  two  stations,  composed  of  mission 
helpers  brought  from  abroad;  now,  there  are  thirty- 
two  organized  churches.  Then,  there  were  no  native 
pastors;  now,  there  are  seventeen,  all  engaged  in  mis- 
sion service,  and  most  of  them  in  pastoral  charge  of 
churches.  Then,  our  helpers  were  brought  from  other 
districts;  now,  nearly  all  our  greatly  increased  num- 
ber of  helpers  have  been  found  and  educated  in  our  own 
mission.  Then,  it  seemed  an  absurdity  to  the  native 
mind  to  suppose  that  any  Hindu  would  become  a  Chris- 
tian; now,  the  prevailing  feeling  among  intelligent 
natives  appears  to  be  that  Christianity  is,  ere  long,  to 
become  the  prevailing  religion  of  the  country.  Then, 
the  government  was  doing  nothing  for  the  education  of 

[194] 


Biographical  Sketches 

the  common  people;  now,  it  is  doing  much  for  this  ob- 
ject. Then,  the  prejudice  against  female  education 
was  exceedingly  strong;  now,  the  prejudice  is  giving 
way,  and  many  females,  old  and  young,  are  learning  to 
read.  Then,  tracts  and  Scripture  portions  were  given 
away  to  all  who  would  receive  them ;  now,  they  are  sold. 
Then,  no  school  fees  were  received;  now,  they  are  paid 
in  nearly  all  our  schools.  Then,  it  was  necessary  to  pay 
girls  for  attendance  at  school;  now,  they  pay  fees 
instead." 

On  November  8,  1877,  almost  forty-one  years  from 
the  day  of  their  embarkation  for  India,  Dr.  and  Mrs. 
Tracy  had  the  rare  joy  of  welcoming  their  youngest  son, 
Rev.  James  E.  Tracy  (Williams  1874),  and  his  wife, 
as  missionaries  to  the  land  of  his  birth.  Parents  and 
son  were  looking  forward  to  many  happy  days  of  re- 
union and  mutual  support,  after  a  long  separation, 
when,  on  November  28,  suddenly  came  the  summons 
from  the  Lord  of  the  harvest.  Conscious  to  the  end  and 
with  the  words,  "I  am  going  home,"  at  the  ripe  age  of 
three  score  years  and  ten,  he  resigned  his  toil." 

While  Dr.  Tracy  at  different  times  engaged  in  the 
great  variety  of  labors  that  usually  falls  to  the  lot  of 
the  foreign  missionary,  his  most  important  work  was  in 
the  line  of  education.  The  boarding-school  which  he 
opened  the  first  year  after  his  going  to  Tirumangalam, 
he  lived  to  see  become  the  high-grade  seminary  at  Pasu- 
malai,  and  in  the  process  of  being  developed  into  the 
college.  Along  with  the  earnest  Christian  spirit  which 
pervaded  all  his  teaching,  he  ever  showed  a  rare  tact 
and  good  judgment  in  the  government  of  his  school. 
With  his  good  judgment  and  clear  discernment  he  had 
an  active  mind  and  keen  wit,  and  by  reason  of  these 
qualities  people  loved  to  resort  to  his  hospitable  home 
to  enjoy  his  cheery  conversation  or  receive  his  wise 
counsel.  His  prudence  and  practical  good  sense,  united 

[195] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

with  his  kindly  manner,  aided  him  in  his  important 
work  and  secured  for  him  the  affection  of  his  associates 
and  the  natives  among  whom  he  toiled. 

He  was  happy  in  being  able  to  witness  in  his  own 
lifetime  some  of  the  fruits  of  his  labors  and  in  being 
assured  that  the  results  of  those  labors  would  be 
enduring. 

He  received  the  honorary  degree  of  Master  of  Arts 
from  Williams  in  1853,  and  the  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Divinity  from  the  University  of  Western  Pennsylva- 
nia in  1868. 

He  married  November  23,  1836,  Miss  Emily  Fran- 
ces Travelli,  sister  of  Rev.  Joseph  Secundus  Travelli, 
missionary  in  Singapore,  and  daughter  of  Francesco 
Travelli,  who  came  to  this  country  from  Genoa,  Italy. 
She  was  born  in  Philadelphia,  February  20,  1811. 
Francesco  Travelli  was  a  man  of  culture  and  brought 
with  him  from  Italy  a  considerable  fortune,  which  he 
lost  through  the  dishonesty  of  a  business  partner.  He 
afterward  became  a  teacher  of  violin  and  modern  lan- 
guages. He  married  Abigail  Monday,  an  English 
girl  from  Nottinghamshire,  who  was  a  staunch  Presby- 
terian, while  her  husband  was  a  Catholic.  Through 
her  influence,  he  became  a  Presbyterian.  They  had 
four  children,  all  of  whom  grew  up  in  the  faith  of  the 
mother. 

Of  six  children  born  to  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Tracy,  three 
sons  are  living,  all  of  them  graduates  of  this  college: 
— George  Henry  Tracy  (Williams  1866),  a  teacher 
in  Gildersleeve,  Connecticut;  Joseph  Travelli  Tracy 
(Williams  1866),  a  teacher  in  New  York  City;  and 
James  Edward  Tracy  (Williams  1874),  a  missionary 
in  Kodaikanal,  South  India. 

Besides  letters  and  journals  which  appeared  in  the 
Missionary  Herald,  Dr.  Tracy  published  various  text- 
books in  Tamil, 

[196] 


Biographical  Sketches 

CLASS  OF  1834 

NATHANIEL  MARCUS  CRANE,  son  of  Oliver  and  Su- 
sannah Crane,  was  born  in  West  Bloomfield,  New  Jer- 
sey, December  12,  1805.  His  parents  were  pious,  and 
taught  the  son  the  principles  of  truth.  At  the  age  of  fif- 
teen, he  went  to  Newark,  New  Jersey,  where  he  learned 
a  trade.  In  the  time  of  his  apprenticeship  he  made  a 
profession  of  religion,  and  consecrating  himself  to  the 
work  of  the  ministry,  he  devoted  the  little  property  he 
had  acquired  by  his  industry  to  the  preparation  for  his 
work.  Having  spent  two  years  at  Bloomfield  Acad- 
emy, he  entered  Williams  as  a  Freshman  in  1830.  He 
was  catalogued  here  in  his  Sophomore  and  Junior  years, 
but  left  before  completing  the  course,  apparently  on  ac- 
count of  failing  health.  His  health  being  restored  by 
travel  in  the  West,  he  entered  Washington  College, 
Pennsylvania,  where  he  was  graduated,  probably,  in 
1833.  He  then  entered  the  Western  Theological  Sem- 
inary, Allegheny,  Pennsylvania,  where  he  spent  two 
years,  taking  his  Senior  year  at  Auburn  Seminary, 
from  which  he  was  graduated  in  1836.  Having  de- 
cided, while  at  Allegheny,  to  become  a  foreign  mission- 
ary, he  was  ordained  by  the  Presbytery  of  Cayuga,  in 
the  autumn  of  1836,  and  on  November  23  sailed  from 
Boston  for  India,  under  appointment  of  the  American 
Board,  with  six  other  missionaries  and  their  wives.  He 
arrived  at  Madura  May  10,  1837,  and  was  stationed  at 
Terupuvanum,  twelve  miles  southeast  of  Madura.  In  a 
report  rendered  October  1,  1840,  he  wrote:  "With  the 
exception  of  a  single  tour  made  in  company  with  Mr. 
Ward  some  months  since,  there  has  been  very  little  vari- 
ety in  my  work.  Attention  to  the  language,  distribu- 
tion of  the  Scriptures  and  tracts  to  those  who  call  at  my 
room  for  them,  and  something  like  a  monthly  distribu- 
tion in  the  villages  where  our  schools  are  located,  have 
constituted  the  routine  of  my  labors." 

[197] 


Williams  College  and  Mission* 

In  1842,  he  is  reported  to  have  removed  to  Dindigul, 
thirty-eight  miles  northwest  of  Madura,  where  he  was 
associated  with  Rev.  John  J.  Lawrence.  Here  his 
work  was  done  largely  in  connection  with  the  schools. 
In  giving  a  report  of  the  station  under  date  of  October 
1,  1842,  he  wrote:  "The  free  schools  here  are  divided 
between  Mr.  Lawrence  and  myself.  At  present  nine  are 
under  my  charge,  of  which  four  are  in  town,  and  five 
in  villages  distant  from  Dindigul  from  one  and  a  half 
to  fourteen  miles.  The  latter  distance  we  feel,  under 
ordinary  circumstances,  to  be  too  great  to  sustain 
schools  advantageously.  But  in  the  present  case  we 
are  induced  to  keep  up  a  few  schools  at  that  distance, 
because  we  find  there,  in  one  direction,  a  cluster  of  vil- 
lages too  important  to  be  neglected."  In  the  same 
report  he  speaks  of  a  boys'  boarding-school  with  thirty- 
seven  members,  they  having  sent  the  first  two  classes 
of  ten  lads  to  the  seminary  which  had  been  recently  or- 
ganized at  Tirumangalam.  The  following  year,  Mr. 
Crane  was  transferred  to  Madura  to  take  the  place  of 
Mr.  Ward,  who  had  been  removed  to  Madras.  In 
Madura,  he  had  charge  of  a  female  boarding-school 
and  of  ten  native  free  schools.  He  met  with  great 
encouragement  in  his  work,  finding  in  many  villages 
the  people  were  not  only  desirous  of  having  schools  and 
ready  to  contribute  to  the  support  of  schools,  but  were 
ready  to  embrace  Christianity. 

After  seven  years  of  successful  labor,  he  was  com- 
pelled by  ill  health  in  1845  to  return  to  this  country. 
After  spending  two  years  with  friends  in  New  Jersey, 
he  removed  with  his  family  to  Warren  County,  Penn- 
sylvania, where  his  health  was  so  far  restored  by  a  resi- 
dence of  two  years  on  a  farm,  that  he  was  enabled  to 
commence  preaching  in  1848,  and  to  continue  in  the 
pastoral  work  until  his  death.  He  labored  for  six  years 
at  Sugar  Grove  and  Irvine,  Pennsylvania,  in  the 

[198] 


Biographical  Sketches 

bounds  of  Erie  Presbytery.  In  the  spring  of  1854,  he 
removed  to  Rimersburg,  Clarion  County,  Pennsylva- 
nia, and  took  charge  of  the  churches  of  Bethesda,  New 
Bethlehem,  and  Middle  Creek,  being  installed  pastor 
over  the  Bethesda  church  in  1855,  and  continuing  as 
stated  supply  of  the  other  churches  of  his  charge.  In 
the  autumn  of  1857,  he  removed  to  the  West,  and  spent 
the  following  winter  in  Illinois.  The  next  spring  he 
removed  to  Indian  Town,  Tama  County,  Iowa,  where 
after  eighteen  months  of  pastoral  work,  he  died  of 
typhoid  fever,  September  21,  1859. 

"He  was  distinguished  for  his  sincere  and  earnest 
devotion  to  his  calling,  the  purity  of  his  life,  and  the 
urbanity  of  his  manners.  He  was  a  true  missionary  to 
the  last,  and  died  in  the  triumph  of  faith.  His  whole 
life  was  eminently  one  of  conscientious  and  consistent 
piety.  Unostentatious  and  meek  in  his  whole  deport- 
ment, none  knew  or  observed  him  in  his  devoted  per- 
formance of  duty  without  being  led  to  esteem  him  with 
affectionate  consideration  and  regard." 

He  was  married  November  7,  1836,  to  Miss 
Julia  Ann  Jerusha  Ostrander,  of  Pompey,  Onondaga 
County,  New  York.  She,  with  two  sons  and  four 
daughters,  survived  him. 

GUSHING  EELLS,  the  third  child  and  oldest  son  of 
Joseph  and  Elizabeth  (Warner)  Eells,  was  born  at 
Blandford,  Massachusetts,  February  16,  1810.  He 
was  the  grandson  of  Deacon  Nathaniel  Eells,  who 
lived  at  North  Coventry,  Connecticut.  The  family  is  de- 
scended from  John  Eells,  who  came  from  Devonshire, 
England,  to  Dorchester,  Massachusetts,  in  1630,  and 
who,  after  living  there  until  1640,  returned  with  his 
infant  son,  Samuel,  to  Barnstable,  England.  Samuel, 
who  became  a  Major  in  Cromwell's  army,  remained  in 
England  until  1661,  when  he  returned  to  America,  and 

[199] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

became  one  of  the  first  settlers  in  Milford,  Connecticut. 
He  was  a  lawyer  by  profession,  a  man  of  wealth,  and 
commanded  a  garrison  in  King  Philip's  War.  He  was 
the  progenitor  of  all  of  the  name  of  Eells  in  America. 
He  had  a  son  and  a  grandson,  Nathaniel,  who  were 
graduates  of  Harvard  in  1699  and  1728,  respectively, 
and  became  ministers  of  the  gospel.  The  grandson 
married  Mercy  Gushing,  a  daughter  of  Hon.  John 
Gushing,  and  from  this  source  came  the  given  name  of 
the  subject  of  this  sketch. 

The  family  has  been  distinguished  for  its  patriot- 
ism, several  members  of  it  being  officers  or  soldiers  in 
the  Revolutionary  War.  There  have  also  been  in  the 
family  numerous  ministers  of  the  gospel.  The  Pres- 
byterian Banner  for  October  7,  1885,  in  referring  to 
Edward  Eells,  Jr.,  who  had  recently  been  licensed  to 
preach,  says:  "He  is  the  twentieth  of  the  same  name 
and  family  in  the  ministry  of  the  gospel  since  1703. 
All  but  one  of  these  have  been  in  Congregational  or 
Presbyterian  churches,  graduates  of  Harvard,  Yale, 
Williams,  Hamilton,  Pacific  University,  or  the  Univer- 
sity of  Virginia,  and  all  sound  in  the  faith  of  the  West- 
minster standards.  Besides  these,  the  multitude  who 
as  deacons  and  elders  have  served  the  church  is  unnum- 
bered. And  not  by  any  means  less  are  the  many  daugh- 
ters of  the  family,  who,  as  the  wives  and  mothers  of 
clergymen  of  other  names,  have  served  or  are  serving 
the  cause  of  Christ  in  stations  no  less  responsible." 

Gushing  Eells  spent  his  early  years  in  Blandford, 
a  town  situated  on  a  spur  of  the  Green  Mountains, 
where  the  rocky  soil  tended  to  produce  energetic  charac- 
ter in  those  who  could  overcome  its  obstacles  and  obtain 
from  it  a  living.  Here,  in  1825,  when  past  fifteen 
years  of  age,  in  a  tims  of  special  religious  interest,  he 
became  a  Christian,  though  he  did  not  unite  with  the 
church  until  two  years  later.  It  having  been  deter- 

[200] 


Biographical  Sketches 

mined  that  he  should  go  to  college,  arrangements  were 
made  for  him  to  go  to  East  Granville,  a  town  seven 
miles  distant,  where  he  studied  one  summer  with  the 
pastor,  Dr.  Timothy  M.  Cooley  (Yale  1792).  He  was 
accustomed  to  walk  thither  on  Monday  mornings  and 
return  Saturday  afternoons.  The  sight  of  young  Eells 
going  back  and  forth  to  school  suggested  to  another 
youth,  then  working  on  his  father's  farm,  that  he  too 
might  go  through  college.  This  youth,  the  son  of 
Deacon  Coe,  went  through  Yale  College,  and  became  a 
minister.  For  many  years,  as  Rev.  David  B.  Coe, 
D.D.,  he  was  one  of  the  Secretaries  of  the  Home  Mis- 
sionary Society. 

Through  the  influence  of  his  pastor,  Dr.  Clarke, 
young  Eells,  after  a  time,  went  to  Monson  Academy, 
where  he  prepared  for  college  under  Rev.  Simeon  Col- 
ton.  During  his  academy  and  college  course  he  re- 
ceived aid  from  the  Education  Society,  which  he  subse- 
quently repaid  in  full.  He  entered  college  as  a  Fresh- 
man in  1830,  being  in  the  same  class  with  Edward 
Weeks  Boldero  Canning,  James  Dixon,  subsequently 
Senator  from  Connecticut,  Nathaniel  Herrick  Griffin, 
Alexander  Hyde,  and  Lewis  Morris  Rutherford.  Dr. 
Edward  Dorr  Griffin  was  president  and  Mark  and  Al- 
bert Hopkins  were  members  of  the  faculty.  The  col- 
lege was  forty-five  miles  from  his  home.  For  the  most 
of  his  course,  on  account  of  his  poverty,  he  was  accus- 
tomed to  walk  this  distance,  two  or  three  times  a  year. 
In  college  he  was  a  member  of  the  Mills  Theological 
Society,  which  was  then  composed  of  those  who  in- 
tended to  become  home  or  foreign  missionaries,  and 
also  of  the  Philotechnian  Society.  On  graduation,  he 
entered  the  Theological  Institute  of  Connecticut,  where 
he  was  graduated  in  1837.  Certain  events  having 
called  his  attention  to  Africa  as  a  missionary  field,  in 
1836  he  offered  himself  to  the  American  Board  and  was 

[201] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

appointed  to  the  Zulu  Mission.  He  was  licensed  to 
preach,  December  14,  of  that  year,  and  on  October  25, 
1837,  was  ordained  at  Blandford,  as  a  missionary  to 
Africa.  Owing,  however,  to  the  existence  of  war  be- 
tween two  powerful  chiefs  of  the  Zulus,  the  plan  of 
going  to  Africa  was  given  up,  the  winter  of  1837-38 
being  spent  in  teaching  school,  an  employment  in 
which  he  had  spent  most  of  his  vacations. 

A  few  years  before  this,  the  Indians  of  Oregon  had 
sent  representatives  to  St.  Louis  to  secure  religious 
teachers.  The  Missionary  Society  of  the  Methodist 
Church  had  interested  itself  in  this  call,  and  about  the 
same  time,  Rev.  Samuel  Parker  (Williams  1806),  of 
Ithaca,  New  York,  offered  himself  to  the  American 
Board  to  go  to  Oregon  to  explore  and  report.  Before 
carrying  out  this  plan,  however,  Mr.  Parker  found  Dr. 
Marcus  Whitman,  with  whom,  in  the  following  spring, 
he  started  across  the  continent  to  explore  Oregon.  On 
reaching  the  American  Rendezvous,  on  the  Green  River, 
they  learned  from  the  Indians  so  much  as  to  the  need 
of  missionary  work  that  Dr.  Whitman  turned  back 
to  secure  help,  while  Mr.  Parker  went  on.  Dr.  Whit- 
man secured  as  helpers  Rev.  H.  H.  Spaulding  and 
wife  and  Mr.  W.  H.  Gray,  with  whom  he  and  his  wife, 
in  1836,  crossed  the  continent.  Dr.  Whitman  settled 
in  the  Walla  Walla  valley,  Mr.  Spaulding  at  Lapwai 
among  the  Nez  Perces,  while  Mr.  Gray  assisted  at  both 
places.  The  call  for  more  laborers  was  so  urgent  that 
Mr.  Gray  returned  east  in  1837  for  other  helpers.  The 
opportunity  of  going  to  Oregon  was  offered  by  the 
American  Board  to  Mr.  Eells  and  his  betrothed  and  by 
them  accepted.  They  were  married  March  5,  1838,  and 
on  the  following  day  started  on  their  bridal  trip,  which 
lasted  until  the  last  of  April  of  the  following  year.  In 
the  long  journey  to  Walla  Walla  they  were  accompan- 
ied by  Rev.  Elkanah  Walker,  Rev.  A.  B.  Smith,  Mr. 

[202  ] 


Biographical  Sketches 

W.  H.  Gray  and  their  wives,  and  Mr.  Cornelius  Rog- 
ers, who  joined  them  at  Cincinnati.  The  journey  to 
Missouri  was  made  by  railroad,  steamboat,  and  stage, 
and  from  there,  beginning  with  April  23,  the  journey 
was  by  horseback.  In  the  last  of  August,  after  the  ex- 
piration of  129  days  they  arrived  at  Wai-i-lat-pu,  the 
mission  station  occupied  by  Dr.  Whitman  and  his  fam- 
ily. This  was  the  second  time  the  distance  between 
Missouri  and  Walla  Walla  had  been  travelled  by 
women.  Of  the  trials  experienced  on  the  journey  by 
the  party  and  borne  by  them  with  heroic  endurance, 
some  account  is  given  in  the  diary  kept  by  Mr.  Eells. 
Some  idea  of  the  remoteness  of  the  region  through 
which  they  passed  may  be  gained  from  the  list  of  prices 
at  the  American  Rendezvous,  where  they  arrived  on  the 
23d  of  June  and  remained  nearly  three  weeks.  "Flour 
was  two  dollars  a  pound ;  sugar,  coffee,  and  tea,  a  dollar 
a  pint;  calico,  worth  in  the  States,  twenty  or  twenty- 
five  cents,  was  five  dollars ;  a  shirt,  five  dollars ;  tobacco, 
three  to  five  dollars  a  pound;  whiskey,  thirty  dollars  a 
gallon."  Of  some  of  the  dangers  encountered,  Mrs. 
Eells  wrote:  "During  a  considerable  part  of  our  jour- 
ney we  are  liable  to  be  met  by  war  parties  of  wild  In- 
dians, and  if  we  are  not  sufficiently  strong,  our  animals 
may  be  taken  and  we  left  to  wander  in  wilderness.  The 
first  week  after  we  left  Independence  three  of  our  best 
horses  were  stolen,  which  cost  us  two  hundred  dollars. 
We  often  speak  of  the  journey  as  going  to  sea  on  land. 
I  believe  we  all  agree  that  no  pen  can  fully  paint  the 
reality  of  it  so  that  one  will  understand  it  who  has  not 
tried  it." 

Oregon  in  1838  included  what  is  now  Washington, 
Idaho,  and  some  part  of  Montana  and  of  Wyoming. 
All  of  this  region  and  that  now  contained  in  half  a 
dozen  other  of  the  far  Western  States  were  not  consid- 
ered as  belonging  to  the  United  States,  and  mission- 

[203] 


Williams  College  and  Mission* 

aries  to  those  regions  had  to  have  passports.  Mails 
then  came  twice  a  year,  sometimes  by  the  Hudson's  Bay 
Company's  vessels,  sometimes  by  way  of  Cape  Horn 
and  the  Sandwich  Islands  to  Vancouver,  which  was  the 
distributing  office.  Sometimes  it  required  more  than 
two  years  for  a  letter  from  Massachusetts  to  reach  the 
missionaries. 

On  arriving  at  Dr.  Whitman's,  the  missionary  party 
were  located  in  different  places,  Messrs.  Eells  and 
Walker  being  appointed  to  begin  a  new  station  among 
the  Spokane  Indians.  The  place  chosen  was  Tshima- 
kain,  about  six  miles  north  of  the  Spokane  River,  and 
not  far  from  Walla  Walla.  Having  built  two  log 
pens  for  their  future  homes,  they  returned  to  Dr. 
Whitman's  for  the  winter,  during  which  period  much 
time  was  given  to  the  study  of  the  Flathead  lan- 
guage. On  March  5,  1839,  just  one  year  after  each  had 
been  married,  Messrs.  Eells  and  Walker  started  to 
complete  their  wedding  tour,  and  in  the  last  of  April 
they  began  housekeeping  in  their  new  homes.  The 
houses  of  the  white  people  were  log  cabins,  or  of  adobe. 
"That  of  Mr.  Eells  at  Tshimakain  had  at  first  only 
earth  for  a  floor  and  pine  boughs  for  a  roof.  As  that 
did  not  protect  from  rain,  some  earth  was  thrown  upon 
the  boughs.  Still  the  rain  came  through,  so  a  bear- 
skin was  put  over  the  bed  to  keep  the  occupants  dry, 
while  the  boughs  were  laid  upon  the  earth  beneath,  and 
when  they  became  too  dry  were  exchanged  for  new  ones. 
This  was  for  years  the  carpet  for  the  mission  mansion." 

Of  the  character  and  life  of  the  Indians  and  the  mis- 
sionary labor  among  them,  a  full  and  interesting  ac- 
count is  given  by  Mr.  Eells  in  the  Missionary  Herald 
for  1840.  Until  the  language  was  mastered,  instruc- 
tion was  given  through  an  interpreter.  Preaching 
services  were  held  from  the  first,  the  language  was  re- 
duced to  writing,  Sabbath  schools  and  week-day  schools 


Biographical  Sketches 

were  established,  and  an  attempt  made  to  teach  the  In- 
dians agriculture.  Mr.  Eells  also  did  much  itinerat- 
ing. In  the  year  ending  March  1,  1841,  he  had  trav- 
elled for  the  station  1200  miles  on  horseback,  in  an  ab- 
sence of  fifty-seven  days.  He  also  went  more  than  400 
miles  to  teach  the  Indians,  a  work  which  required  an 
absence  of  twenty-three  days  more.  Mr.  Eells  spent 
nine  years  at  this  station  engaged  in  this  work.  Dur- 
ing these  years  occurred  most  important  events  that 
concerned  not  only  the  future  of  Mr.  Eells'  life  but  the 
future  of  the  great  Northwest. 

In  the  winter  of  1842-3,  Dr.  Marcus  Whitman,  be- 
ing aware  of  the  efforts  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company 
to  possess  themselves  of  that  region,  made  the  memora- 
ble horseback  ride  across  the  continent,  and  by  his  rep- 
resentations made  at  Washington,  saved  to  the  country 
the  great  Northwest.  It  seems  to  be  a  pretty  general 
belief  that  this  patriotic  act  of  Dr.  Whitman  brought 
about  the  terrible  massacre,  in  November,  1847,  when 
Dr.  Whitman  and  wife  of  the  American  Board,  and 
thirteen  or  more  associates,  were  savagely  killed.  This 
massacre  and  the  dangers  consequent  led  the  Board  to 
discontinue  the  mission;  although  in  the  hope  that,  in 
accordance  with  the  earnest  desire  of  the  Indians,  the 
mission  should  be  resumed,  Messrs.  Eells  and  Walker 
did  not  sever  their  connection  with  the  Board  until 
1855. 

On  leaving  Tshimakain  Mr.  Eells  went  to  Fort 
Colville.  His  time  henceforth  was  devoted  to  preach- 
ing and  teaching.  Although  he  was  no  longer  con- 
nected with  the  mission,  he  never  lost  his  interest  in  the 
tribes  whom  he  called  his  Indians,  and  often  had  oppor- 
tunities of  preaching  to  them.  In  the  providence  of 
God  there  were  now  open  to  him  opportunities  for  the 
establishment  of  schools  and  churches  which  could  never 
have  come  to  him  as  a  missionary  to  the  Indians.  The 

[205] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

years  1848-60  were  spent  in  the  Willamette  valley.  In 
1848-49  he  was  Principal  of  the  Oregon  Institute  at 
Salem,  Oregon,  which  has  since  become  Willamette 
University;  from  1849  to  1851  he  was  at  Forest  Grove 
as  teacher  in  what  was  afterwards  Pacific  University; 
from  1851  to  1857  at  Hillsboro;  and  again,  from  1857 
to  1860  at  Forest  Grove  as  Principal  of  Tualatin  Acad- 
emy. During  all  these  periods  he  preached  as  he  found 
opportunity,  two  or  three  times  a  month,  rarely  receiv- 
ing pay  for  so  doing. 

While  he  was  thus  at  work  in  the  Willamette  val- 
ley he  felt  that  his  home  and  real  work  were  to  be  east 
of  the  Cascade  Mountains,  and  when  that  region  was 
declared  open,  he  made  a  vacation  journey  there,  partly 
to  attend  to  the  interests  of  the  Board,  and  partly  be- 
cause he  was  drawn  there  by  his  own  wishes.  In  visit- 
ing the  old  mission  station  at  Walla  Walla  and  the 
grave  of  Dr.  Whitman,  he  formed  the  plan  of  estab- 
lishing a  Christian  school  of  learning  as  a  memorial  of 
the  martyrs.  On  speaking  subsequently  of  his  feelings 
when  he  remembered  all  that  Dr.  Whitman  had  done 
to  save  that  region  to  the  United  States,  and  thought  of 
the  possible  future,  he  said,  "I  believe  that  the  power 
of  the  Highest  came  upon  me."  For  the  years  1860- 
82,  his  life  was  closely  associated  with  Whitman 
Seminary,  the  charter  for  which  was  obtained  at  his 
request  in  the  winter  of  1859-60.  Walla  Walla,  which 
is  now  a  city  of  several  thousand  inhabitants,  was  then 
a  small  village  with  five  families  and  about  a  hundred 
men.  Whatever  society  there  was,  needed  for  some 
time  the  protection  of  a  Vigilance  Committee.  To  es- 
tablish a  church  and  a  seminary  amid  such  surroundings 
meant  the  severest  privations  with  the  practice  of  the 
most  rigid  economy  and  self-denial.  It  required  from 
Mr.  Eells  seven  years  of  the  hardest  kind  of  toil,  before 
the  first  building  of  Whitman  Seminary,  a  structure 

[206] 


Biographical  Sketches 

twenty  by  forty-six  feet,  two  stories  high,  could  be 
erected.  To  help  pay  the  debt  that  rested  upon  this 
building  at  its  dedication,  Mr.  Eells  "farmed,  raised 
stock,  sold  cordwood,  peddled  chickens,  eggs  and  the 
like,  and  Mrs.  Eells,  though  past  fifty-seven,  made  four 
hundred  pounds  of  butter."  For  a  generation  his  life 
was  devoted  to  the  building  up  of  this  school.  At  the 
first  meeting  of  the  trustees,  December  17,  1860,  he  was 
chosen  President  of  the  Board,  and  held  this  position 
until  his  death,  a  period  of  more  than  thirty-two  years. 
For  two  years,  1867-69,  he  was  Principal  of  the  Sem- 
inary. During  the  same  period  he  was  school  superin- 
tendent for  Walla  Walla  County,  then  embracing  a 
region  nearly  as  large  as  Massachusetts. 

In  1872,  having  lost  his  house  by  fire,  he  removed 
to  Skokomish,  then  the  home  of  one  of  his  sons.  Al- 
though his  life  at  Walla  Walla  was  at  an  end,  and 
though  in  the  later  years  of  his  life  he  had  other  absorb- 
ing duties,  his  interest  in  Whitman  Seminary,  which  in 
1883  became  a  college,  continued  unabated.  His  diary 
abounds  in  records  of  his  efforts  and  prayers  for  this 
child  of  his  faith  and  he  was  often  heard  to  say,  "I 
could  die  for  Whitman  College."  He  gave  to  the  col- 
lege, first  and  last,  out  of  his  own  hard-earned  property, 
$15,000  and  spent  nearly  a  year  in  1883-84  in  the  East, 
where  he  secured  for  it  $12,000.  No  one  could  dispute 
Father  Eells'  right  to  be  called  the  "pious  founder"  of 
Whitman  College.  Not  only  by  its  foundation  is 
Whitman  the  offspring  of  Williams,  but  in  its  boards 
of  government  and  instruction  it  has  been  closely  con- 
nected with  Williams.  Besides  other  graduates  of 
Williams  who  have  been  on  its  faculty,  James  Francis 
Eaton,  of  the  class  of  1876,  was  one  of  its  presidents 
and  Dr.  S.  B.  L.  Penrose,  of  the  class  of  1885,  is  still 
its  successful  head. 

In  the  years  1872-1888,  Mr.  Eells,  while  continu- 

[207] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

ing  his  interest  in  educational  affairs,  devoted  himself 
largely  to  home  missionary  work,  although  he  never  was 
a  home  missionary  by  the  appointment  of  any  Society. 
After  organizing  a  church  in  Skokomish,  of  which  he 
was  pastor  for  two  years,  in  1877  he  removed  to  Col- 
fax,  where  he  organized  another  church,  over  which  he 
remained  as  pastor  four  years.  After  spending  some 
time  at  Medical  Lake,  he  removed  to  Cheney,  from 
which  point  as  a  center,  though  now  more  than  three 
score  years  and  ten,  he  performed  labors  in  nine  differ- 
ent places  in  three  counties.  After  a  year  and  a  half 
he  returned  to  Medical  Lake,  which  for  another  year 
and  a  half  became  the  center  of  various  other  preaching 
places. 

In  1888,  after  almost  fifty  years  of  active  service 
on  the  Pacific  Coast,  Dr.  Eells  resigned  his  last  pastor- 
ate, and  went  to  Puyallup  Reservation,  near  Tacoma, 
to  the  residence  of  his  older  son.  In  the  past  twelve 
years  he  had  organized  a  new  church  in  each  of  several 
places,  aiding  in  the  erection  of  the  building,  sometimes 
building  a  church  himself  and  giving  it  to  the  people. 
In  the  published  list  of  his  benevolences  there  are 
named  sixteen  churches  which  he  had  aided,  and  to  each 
of  nine  of  these  he  had  given  a  bell. 

His  retirement  did  not  mean  cessation  from  work. 
During  the  five  years  that  yet  remained  to  him,  he  was 
still  active  in  preaching  and  holding  Bible  services  as  he 
had  opportunity.  The  Sabbath  before  his  death,  he 
attended  church  and  participated  in  some  of  the  serv- 
ices. He  died  of  pneumonia  on  the  return  of  his  birth- 
day, February  16,  1893,  completing  his  83d  year. 
Funeral  services  were  held  at  the  house  and  also  at  the 
Congregational  Church.  The  burial  was  at  Seattle,  be- 
side the  body  of  his  wife.  Memorial  services  were 
subsequently  held  at  Walla  Walla,  Colfax,  Medical 
Lake,  and  at  Ravenswood,  near  Chicago,  where 

[208] 


Biographical  Sketches 

the  address  was  made  by  Rev.  Marcus  Whitman 
Montgomery. 

The  year  following  his  death,  a  biography  of 
"Father  Eells"  was  published  by  one  of  his  sons,  Rev. 
Myron  Eells,  D.D.  Few  biographies  tell  more  thrill- 
ing tales  of  early  struggles,  patient  endurance,  and  de- 
voted self-denying  service.  Fifty-five  years  of  fruitful 
labors,  resulting  in  the  evangelization  of  Indian  tribes, 
the  founding  of  two  colleges,  and  the  establishment  of 
many  churches,  constitute  a  rare  record  for  one  life. 
Other  men  of  like  heroic  mould  will  be  born,  but  the  op- 
portunity for  doing  such  pioneer  work  as  a  missionary 
and  statesman  in  this  country  cannot  recur.  That, 
with  his  slender  income,  he  could  give  $30,000  to  objects 
of  benevolence,  tells  a  story  of  rigorous  economy  in  liv- 
ing, of  heroic  self-denial,  and  supreme  devotion  to  the 
Master, rarely  equalled  in  the  annals  of  missionary  lives. 
In  many  ways  he  reflected  the  life  of  Christ,  but  espe- 
cially in  his  modesty  and  humility,  and  in  his  love  for 
service  and  Christlike  submission  to  the  will  of  God.  Of 
him,  Dr.  Lyman  Abbott,  in  the  Christian  Union,  wrote, 
"A  man  of  great  and  beautiful  character,  of  unsur- 
passed consecration,  and  one  to  whom  the  republic  of 
the  United  States  owes  a  far  greater  debt  than  to  many 
who  have  occupied  a  far  more  conspicuous  place  in  his- 
tory." Rev.  Dr.  L.  H.  Hallock,  his  last  pastor,  wrote 
of  him  in  the  Congregationalist:  "Thus  passed  away 
another  historic  character,  one  of  God's  noblemen,  a 
man  of  modest  demeanor,  independent,  and  a  stranger 
to  fear,  energetic,  beloved.  Fifty-five  years  of  una- 
bated fidelity  have  left  their  lasting  mark  upon  the  re- 
ligious and  educational  interests  of  Washington,  and 
always  for  good." 

Dr.  Eells  received  the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor 
of  Divinity  from  Pacific  University  in  1883.  The 
higher  title  of  "Father  Eells"  was  given  him  by  a  grate- 

[209] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

ful  and  loving  constituency  on  account  of  his  fatherly 
care  over  souls  and  his  paternal  watchfulness  over  in- 
fant churches.  In  1883,  he  was  Assistant  Moderator 
of  the  National  Council. 

Dr.  Eells  was  married  March  5,  1838,  to  Myra 
Fairbank,  the  oldest  of  eight  children  of  Deacon  Joshua 
and  Sally  H.  Fairbank,  of  Holden,  Massachusetts. 
She  had  made  a  profession  of  religion  at  the  age  of  thir- 
teen and  received  her  education  at  a  ladies'  seminary  in 
Wethersfield,  Connecticut.  She  died  August  9,  1878, 
at  Skokomish,  at  the  age  of  73.  She  had  been  the  faith- 
ful helpmeet  of  her  husband,  sharing  with  him  in  his 
toil  and  self-denial,  and  enjoying  with  him  his  well- 
earned  honors. 

Two  children  were  born  to  them, — Rev.  Myron 
Eells,  D.D.,  a  graduate  of  Pacific  University  and  of 
Hartford  Theological  Seminary,  for  thirty- three  years 
a  missionary  to  the  Indians  of  Western  Washington, 
and  author,  who  died  in  1907;  and  Hon.  Edwin  Eells, 
who  was  for  twenty-five  years  Indian  Agent  among  the 
Puget  Sound  Indians,  who  is  now  retired  and  a  resident 
of  Tacoma,  Washington. 

Besides  letters  printed  in  various  papers,  Dr. 
Eells  published  numerous  Reports  in  the  Missionary 
Herald,  an  article  or  two  in  the  Home  Missionary  on 
his  life  work,  a  series  of  eight  articles — originally  eight 
addresses — in  the  Walla  Walla  Watchman,  and  a  ser- 
mon in  pamphlet  form  on  the  "Sabbath  as  a  Day  of 
Rest." 

OZRO  FRENCH,  son  of  William  and  Lydia  (Esta- 
brook)  French,  was  born  at  Dummerston,  Vermont, 
June  8,  1807.  He  was  converted  at  the  age  of  twenty 
and  soon  after  commenced  at  Brattleboro,  Vermont,  a 
course  of  study  preparatory  to  the  ministry.  He  en- 
tered college  in  1830,  having  among  his  classmates 

[210] 


Biographical  Sketches 

Gushing  Eells  and  Nathaniel  Herrick  Griffin.  He 
joined  the  Philotechnian  and  Mills  Theological 
Societies. 

After  graduation  he  pursued  a  course  in  theology 
at  Andover  Seminary,  where  he  was  graduated  in  1837. 
Receiving  an  appointment  from  the  American  Board 
he  sailed,  with  his  wife,  from  Salem,  Massachusetts,  for 
India,  April  1,  1839,  arriving  at  Bombay  August  10, 
having  touched  at  Zanzibar  and  Muscat.  After  spend- 
ing a  few  weeks  at  Bombay  he  proceeded  to  Ahmed- 
nagar,  where  he  remained  about  a  year  and  a  half.  He 
then  took  charge  of  a  new  station  which  had  been  estab- 
lished at  Sirur,  on  the  road  from  Ahmednagar  to 
Poona,  twenty-eight  miles  from  the  former  place  and 
forty  miles  from  the  latter.  The  population  of  Sirur  at 
that  time  was  about  6500,  being  a  mixed  population 
and  speaking  a  variety  of  languages,  although  all  un- 
derstood the  Mahratta.  He  commenced  his  residence 
here  May  21,  1841.  His  journal  of  the  year  1843  gives 
a  full  account  of  a  tour  among  neighboring  villages, 
where  books  and  instruction  were  well  received,  and 
where  he  found  almost  every  village  eager  for  schools. 
At  the  close  of  one  of  these  tours  he  remarked:  "In 
these  eleven  days  I  have  visited  nineteen  villages,  dis- 
tributed 242  books,  including  fifty  portions  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, and  proclaimed  the  gospel  to  many  attentive  and 
interested  audiences.  If  the  fruit  of  these  labors  shall 
be  proportionate  to  the  pleasure  with  which  they  have 
been  performed,  the  time  will  have  been  well  spent." 
The  villages  which  he  visited  on  this  tour  had  a  popula- 
tion of  6000  or  7000  and  among  them  he  did  not  find 
100  who  were  able  to  read.  The  territory  which  came 
especially  under  the  care  of  Mr.  French  was  almost 
sixty  miles  long  and  thirty-five  broad,  and  embraced 
about  200  villages,  large  and  small.  The  work  he  had 
to  do  consisted  of  preaching,  distributing  books,  and  the 

[211] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

establishment  of  schools;  and  in  1848  he  could  report 
that  the  whole  region  under  his  care  had  been  "reached, 
to  some  extent,  by  preaching  tours  and  the  printed 
page." 

In  March  of  this  year  he  left  his  station  for  a  time, 
and  went  to  the  seashore  for  the  benefit  of  his  health. 
He  returned  to  his  station  in  June,  still  in  poor  health, 
and  left  in  December  for  America.  For  some  months 
after  his  arrival  he  was  engaged  in  the  service  of  the 
Board  as  an  agent.  Having  trouble  with  his  eyes,  and 
having  no  prospect  of  recovering  the  full  use  of  them, 
he  was  constrained,  in  1851,  to  ask  for  a  release  from 
all  connection  with  the  Board. 

He  then  received  an  appointment  as  a  home  mis- 
sionary and  commenced  his  labors  in  Iowa  in  June  of 
the  same  year.  He  spent  a  little  over  four  years  in  this 
work  at  Bentonsport,  about  six  years  at  Knoxville,  two 
at  Franklin  and  Lafayette,  and  a  little  more  than  a 
year  at  Blairstown  and  Fairfax.  "In  all  these  places 
he  won  the  respect  and  esteem  of  his  fellow  citizens  as 
an  indefatigable  and  earnest  Christian  minister,  and 
has  left  the  memory  and  savor  of  a  godly  life  and  con- 
versation. Even  irreligious  men  who  were  observers  of 
his  life  and  work  were  constrained  to  bear  testimony 
to  his  Christian  consistency  and  devotion,  and  to  regard 
his  removal  as  a  public  calamity." 

He  died  at  Blairstown,  after  a  brief  illness,  Septem- 
ber 28, 1865. 

Mr.  French  was  married  March  11,  1839,  at  Har- 
persfield,  New  York,  to  Miss  Jane  Hotchkiss,  who  sur- 
vived her  husband  many  years,  dying  at  Blairstown, 
December  27, 1900. 


[212] 


Biographical  Sketches 

CLASS  OF  1835 

WORCESTER  WILLEY  was  born  in  Campton,  New 
Hampshire,  September  1,  1808,  being  the  son  of  Darius 
and  Mary  (Pulsifer)  Willey.  He  fitted  for  college  at 
Kimball  Union  and  Phillips  Exeter  Academies  and 
entered  college  as  a  Freshman  in  1831.  In  college  he 
was  a  member  of  the  Mills  Theological  Society,  and 
also  of  the  Philotechnian  Society,  of  which  he  was  for  a 
time  president.  After  graduation  he  studied  theology 
at  Andover  Seminary,  where  he  was  graduated  in  1840. 
He  taught  for  a  time  both  before  and  after  leaving  the 
seminary,  being  so  employed  from  1836  to  1838  in 
Ashby  Academy  and  from  1841  to  1843  in  Holmes 
Academy  at  Plymouth,  New  Hampshire,  where  he  was 
principal.  He  was  acting  pastor  at  South  Wellfleet, 
Massachusetts,  1840-41,  and  was  then  for  a  time  resi- 
dent licentiate  at  Andover.  During  1843-44  he  was 
acting  pastor  at  Hardwick,  Vermont. 

He  was  ordained  at  Campton,  October  3,  1844,  and 
went,  under  the  auspices  of  the  American  Board,  as  a 
missionary  to  the  Cherokee  Indians,  being  located  at 
D wight  station,  which  place  he  reached  on  January  31, 
1845.  With  the  exception  of  a  short  residence  at  Fair- 
field,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Willey  remained  at  Dwight  until 
the  mission  was  discontinued. 

The  mission  among  the  Cherokees  under  the  aus- 
pices of  the  American  Board  was  commenced  by  Rev. 
Cyrus  Kingsbury  in  1817.  Though  some  missionary 
work  had  been  previously  done  among  this  tribe  by  the 
Moravians  and  by  the  Presbyterian  Church,  this  was 
the  first  mission  to  the  Indians  to  be  established  by  the 
American  Board  on  this  continent.  During  the  earlier 
years  the  mission  to  the  Cherokees  was  exceedingly 
prosperous. 

Rev.  Alfred  Finney,  who  with  his  brother-in-law, 
Rev.  Cephas  Washburn,  established  the  station  at 

[213] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

Dwight,  wrote  to  the  Secretary  of  the  American  Board 
in  1824:  "Those  who  when  revolving  in  their  minds  the 
idea  of  Indians  and  savages,  vainly  imagine  that  noth- 
ing can  belong  to  the  aborigines  of  our  country  except 
what  is  frightful  in  appearance  and  deeply  imbued  with 
cruelty  and  barbarism,  would  scarcely  believe  them- 
selves to  be  in  an  Indian  school,  when  surrounded  by 
the  children  which  fill  our  little  sylvan  seminary.  Were 
they  here,  they  would  see  nothing  of  that  coarseness  of 
feature,  or  ferocity  of  look,  nothing  like  that  dirty 
dress,  ugly  visage,  and  repelling  countenance,  and  noth- 
ing of  that  hard,  unkind,  and  cruel  disposition,  which 
they  have  been  wont  to  associate  with  the  Indian  char- 
acter. But  they  would  see  a  lovely  group  of  children, 
who  by  the  regularity  of  their  features,  their  neat  and 
cleanly  dress,  their  fair  complexions  (fair  indeed  for  a 
sultry  clime),  their  orderly  and  becoming  behavior, 
their  intelligence  and  sprightliness,  their  mildness  of 
disposition  tempered  with  a  manly  spirit,  and  their 
progress  in  knowledge,  would  not  suffer  by  a  compari- 
son with  most  schools  in  a  civilized  land,  nor  disgrace 
respectable  parents,  in  passing  as  their  sons  and 
daughters. 

"Such  are  our  schools  at  Dwight;  our  precious  chil- 
dren, not  long  since  brought  from  the  shades  of  the 
forest.  We  love  them,  and  can  but  love  them,  for  they 
are  lovely.  They  are  docile  in  their  disposition,  gener- 
ally quick  in  their  apprehensions,  prompt  in  their  obe- 
dience, active  and  sprightly  in  their  sports,  and  diligent 
and  ambitious  in  their  studies."  v 

This  account  refers  to  the  Arkansas  Cherokees  and 
was  written  twenty  years  before  Mr.  Willey  joined  the 
mission  and  fourteen  years  before  the  forcible  removal 
of  the  16,000  Georgia  Cherokees  to  the  reservation  west 
of  the  Mississippi  River,  when,  in  the  journey  of  600  or 
700  miles,  and  lasting  four  or  five  months,  there  per- 


Biographical  Sketches 

ished  more  than  4000  persons.  This  transaction,  which 
as  the  result  of  unjust  legislation  enacted  by  state 
and  national  Government,  makes  one  of  the  darkest 
pages  of  our  history,  is  relieved,  to  some  extent,  by  the 
fact  that  the  missionaries  of  different  Boards  attended 
the  tribe  during  their  journey  and  ministered  to  their 
material  and  spiritual  needs. 

The  station  of  D wight,  selected  by  Messrs.  Finney 
and  Washburn,  and  named  in  memory  of  President 
Dwight  of  Yale  College,  was  located  originally  about 
130  miles  above  Little  Rock,  but  in  1828,  when  the  Ar- 
kansas Cherokees  exchanged  lands  which  they  had  pre- 
viously occupied  for  lands  west  of  them,  the  station  of 
Dwight  was  removed  100  miles  westward. 

While  Mr.  Willey  was  expected  to  labor  as  a 
preacher,  he  exercised  a  wide  influence  in  promoting  the 
cause  of  temperance,  and  in  aiding  in  the  educational 
work.  The  whole  number  of  scholars  in  the  schools  at 
the  time  of  his  beginning  his  work  was  about  170,  and 
the  number  of  church  members  about  240.  Copies  of 
works  in  the  Cherokee  language  embracing  over  700,- 
000  pages  had  been  printed  the  previous  years,  besides 
600  copies  of  a  hymn-book  in  the  Creek  language.  A 
printing  establishment,  owned  by  the  Cherokee  govern- 
ment, had  been  put  in  operation  and  a  weekly  news- 
paper, partly  in  the  Cherokee  and  partly  in  the  English 
language,  had  been  issued. 

With  such  foundations,  Mr.  Willey  continued  with 
success  the  work  begun  by  his  predecessors,  though  the 
work  was  hard  and  often  performed  amid  discourage- 
ment. Especially  noticeable  were  the  advances  made 
by  the  people  in  civilization  and  in  education.  In  1851 
a  seminary  for  girls  and  one  for  boys  were  opened  and  a 
society  formed  called  the  "Cherokee  Educational  Asso- 
ciation," which  took  decided  ground  in  favor  of  a  whole- 
some Christian  influence  in  the  public  schools. 

[215] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

In  the  same  year  Mr.  Willey  made  a  tour  to  Grand 
River  and  found  the  people  exceedingly  anxious  to  ob- 
tain instruction  and  making  special  efforts  to  have  sta- 
tions commenced  among  them.  On  September  15, 
1858,  in  speaking  of  the  past  year,  he  wrote:  "It  has 
been  one  of  rich  blessings  to  this  church.  The  aspect 
of  the  field  was  never  more  encouraging."  Yet  two 
years  later  the  mission  was  discontinued,  the  Pruden- 
tial Committee  of  the  Board  stating  the  reasons  as  fol- 
lows: "The  Committee  regard  the  appropriate  work  of 
the  Board  among  that  people  as  having  been  so  far  ac- 
complished and  the  further  successful  prosecution  of  its 
labors,  at  the  same  time,  so  far  impeded  by  the  inter- 
vention of  other  denominations,  better  situated  for  op- 
erating there  than  ourselves,  as  to  render  it  proper  and 
expedient  for  the  Board  to  withdraw,  and  expend  the 
funds  hitherto  devoted  to  this  field  in  other  more  needy 
portions  of  the  unevangelized  world,  where  it  can  now 
work  to  better  advantage."  This,  however,  did  not  at 
once  terminate  the  personal  relations  of  the  mission  to 
the  Board,  and  Mr.  Willey  remained  with  the  Indians 
through  the  trials  and  perils  of  the  Civil  War  and  until 
1870,  being  located  at  Fort  Gibson  and  vicinity.  He 
then  made  Andover,  Massachusetts,  his  home,  and  died 
there  of  cystitis,  March  31,  1899,  in  his  91st  year. 

"The  godly  training  of  the  New  Hampshire  home 
and  the  Christian  influence  of  college  and  seminary  life 
gave  him  a  fixed  desire  to  make  the  world  better  by  his 
faithful  service." 

He  married  October  18,  1844,  Mary  Ann,  daughter 
of  Samuel  and  Mary  (Richardson)  Frye  of  Andover, 
Massachusetts,  who  died  at  Dwight,  September  23, 
1850.  He  married  next,  May  18,  1854,  Anna  Sears, 
daughter  of  Sears  and  Ann  (Knowles)  Chase  of  South 
Dennis,  Massachusetts,  who  died  at  Dwight,  January 
27,  1862. 

[216] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

CLASS  OF  1837 

DAVID  TAPPAN  STODDARD,  the  youngest  of  eight 
children  of  Solomon  and  Sarah  (Tappan)  Stoddard, 
and  grandson  of  Solomon  and  Martha  (Partridge) 
Stoddard  and  of  Benjamin  and  Sarah  (Homer)  Tap- 
pan,  was  born  in  Northampton,  Massachusetts,  Decem- 
ber 2,  1818.  He  was  sprung  from  a  distinguished  and 
godly  ancestry.  His  descent  is  traced  from  Anthony 
Stoddard,  a  Puritan  emigrant  from  the  west  of  Eng- 
land, who  came  to  Boston  about  1630,  where  he  married 
Mary  Downing,  a  niece  of  John  Winthrop.  Solomon, 
the  oldest  son  of  Anthony  Stoddard,  was  graduated  at 
Harvard  in  1662,  and  at  the  age  of  twenty-nine  was 
settled  over  the  church  in  Northampton,  where  he  re- 
mained as  pastor  till  his  death  at  the  age  of  86,  a 
period  of  fifty-seven  years.  For  the  last  two  years  of 
his  life  he  had  as  his  colleague  his  grandson,  Rev.  Jona- 
than Edwards.  Colonel  John  Stoddard,  the  ninth  child 
of  Solomon,  and  the  great-grandfather  of  the  subject 
of  this  sketch,  was  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1701,  and 
became  one  of  the  most  eminent  men  in  the  Province  of 
Massachusetts.  Solomon,  his  eldest  son,  was  graduated 
at  Yale  in  1756,  practised  law  at  Northampton,  and 
was  High  Sheriff  for  Hampshire  County  at  the  time  of 
the  American  Revolution.  He  was  "distinguished  for 
his  courtly  manner,  as  well  as  for  strict  integrity."  He 
had  a  brother  graduate  at  Yale  in  1758,  and  two  sons  in 
1787  and  1790,  respectively.  It  is  said  that  "of  the 
male  descendants  of  Anthony  Stoddard,  following  sim- 
ply the  line  of  Solomon,  after  the  first  generation,  and 
then  that  of  John,  and  of  the  second  Solomon,  with 
their  children,  at  least  thirty  are  known  to  have  received 
a  collegiate  education."  One  of  these,  the  brother  of 
David,  was  the  eminent  Latin  scholar,  Professor  Solo- 
mon Stoddard  of  Middlebury  College. 

Solomon,  the  father  of  David,  was  born  in  North- 

[217.1 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

ampton,  was  graduated  at  Yale  in  1790,  and  studied 
law.  On  admission  to  the  bar  he  practised  law  for  a 
year  and  a  half  in  Williamstown,  Massachusetts,  and 
for  the  rest  of  his  life  in  his  native  town.  For  several 
years  he  was  Clerk  of  the  County  Court  and  was  sev- 
eral times  sent  by  the  town  as  one  of  their  Representa- 
tives to  the  General  Court  of  the  Commonwealth.  He 
is  described  as  "of  a  modest,  retiring  disposition,  and 
a  man  of  unswerving  integrity  and  uprightness.  The 
chief  glory  of  his  character  was  his  constant  and  exem- 
plary piety." 

The  Tappan  family,  also,  through  which  David 
Stoddard  was  descended  on  his  mother's  side,  was  emi- 
nent for  piety,  and  especially  for  the  due  observance  of 
household  religion.  The  mother,  along  with  a  rare 
grace  and  beauty  of  person,  united  an  uncommon 
sweetness  and  strength  of  character.  Her  wisdom, 
piety,  gentleness,  strictness  without  severity,  united 
with  a  self-sacrificing  kindness,  and  a  uniformly  cheer- 
ful, hopeful  spirit,  made  the  ideal  home  where  children 
rise  up  and  call  the  mother  blessed. 

David,  consecrated  by  his  mother,  from  infancy,  to 
the  Christian  ministry,  was  early  taught  to  pray,  to 
read  the  Scriptures  daily,  and  to  store  his  memory  with 
hymns.  Affectionate  in  nature,  delicate  in  person  and 
manners,  sometimes  teased  by  older  boys  for  his  almost 
girlish  disposition,  he  was  yet  a  boy  among  boys  in 
sports,  proving  himself  beyond  his  seniors  in  manly 
qualities.  His  vivacity  and  love  of  adventure  combined 
with  his  amiableness  of  disposition  made  him  a  general 
favorite.  In  his  boyish  sports  he  early  manifested  a 
genius  for  mechanics  and  mechanical  invention. 

He  fitted  for  college  in  the  famous  Round  Hill 
School  at  Northampton,  which  had  been  for  some  time 
under  the  joint  superintendence  of  J.  G.  Cogswell,  sub- 
sequently librarian  of  the  Astor  Library,  and  George 

[218] 


Biographical  Sketches 

Bancroft,  the  historian.  Among  the  influences  that 
molded  his  character  must  be  reckoned  the  teachings  of 
Nature  coming  to  him  from  mountain  and  river  and 
meadow,  and  the  voices  of  the  past  speaking  of  Ed- 
wards and  Dwight,  both  being  akin  to  him,  and  the 
missionaries  Brainerd  and  Lyman,  whose  lives  were 
commemorated  in  the  cemetery  at  Northampton. 

The  first  recorded  expression  of  his  purpose  to  serve 
the  Lord  is  found  in  a  letter  written  from  New  York, 
in  his  fifteenth  year,  in  a  season  of  special  religious  in- 
terest. While  he  did  not  make  a  public  profession  of 
faith  in  Christ,  he  seemed  to  have  indulged  such  a  hope 
that  he  decided  to  prepare  himself  for  the  work  of  the 
ministry.  Probably  on  account  of  this  state  of  mind, 
and  possibly,  in  part,  because  the  father  had  resided  for 
a  time  in  Williamstown,  the  parents  decided  to  send 
the  son  to  Williams  College.  He  entered  this  institu- 
tion as  a  Sophomore,  in  the  fall  of  1834.  Among  his 
more  distinguished  classmates  here  were  Israel  Ward 
Andrews,  later  President  of  Marietta  College,  and 
Stephen  Johnson  Field,  who  became  a  Justice  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States.  In  college  he 
maintained  the  conscientiousness  and  purity  he  had 
shown  in  the  home,  and  always  exerted  his  influence  in 
favor  of  order  and  good  morals.  Dr.  Griffin  was  still 
president  and  Mark  and  Albert  Hopkins  were  profes- 
sors. But  the  member  of  the  faculty  to  whom  he 
seemed  to  owe  the  most  in  the  formation  of  his  charac- 
ter was  tutor  Simeon  Howard  Calhoun  (Williams 
1829),  subsequently  the  missionary  to  Syria.  While  in 
his  life  at  Williams  he  kept  himself  aloof  from  vice  and 
was  even  zealous  in  the  reform  of  college  morals,  there 
did  not  appear  to  be  any  marked  development  of  reli- 
gious character.  He  seemed  to  appreciate  the  impor- 
tance of  thoroughness  of  study,  and  felt  the  disadvan- 
tages of  entering  college  too  young  and  at  an  advanced 

[219] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

stage.  These  considerations  may  have  had  something 
to  do  with  his  being  transferred  at  the  close  of  the  year 
from  Williams  to  Yale.  Yale  was  also  the  Alma  Mater 
of  his  brother,  Professor  Solomon  Stoddard,  of  his 
father  and  grandfather,  as  well  as  of  many  other  rela- 
tives. Wishing  to  remedy  somewhat  the  deficiency  of 
entering  an  advanced  class  without  adequate  prepara- 
tion, he  entered  the  Sophomore  class  at  Yale,  becoming 
a  member  of  the  class  of  1838.  A  classmate  recalls  the 
appearance  of  the  "fair-haired,  ruddy,  blue-eyed 
youth,"  and  the  brilliant  recitation  he  made  when  he 
first  appeared  in  the  class-room. 

While  he  devoted  himself  to  certain  specialties,  par- 
ticularly astronomy,  he  was  a  superior  scholar  in  all 
subjects  and  took  rank  in  the  first  third  of  his  class. 
He  did  not  court  popularity  but  his  courteous  manners 
and  charming  simplicity  of  character  drew  to  him  as 
friends  many  of  the  better  men  in  his  class.  While  his 
early  training  and  the  impression  of  former  religious 
experience  kept  him  from  open  immorality,  for  much 
of  his  first  year  at  Yale  he  seemed  to  have  led  a  moral 
rather  than  a  religious  life.  The  Day  of  Prayer  for  Col- 
leges,— the  last  Thursday  in  February,  1836, — when 
there  began  a  season  of  special  religious  interest, 
marked  a  new  departure  in  his  life  and  left  with  him 
impressions  that  soon  brought  to  him  a  sense  of  gra- 
cious acceptance  with  God  in  Jesus  Christ.  From  that 
time  on,  while  he  seems  to  have  been  keenly  alive  to  the 
dangers  of  self-deception,  there  was  no  wavering  of 
purpose  and  his  piety  became  with  him  "an  inward  fire 
of  zeal."  The  spirit  of  his  life  is  revealed  in  a  passage  of 
a  letter  written  soon  after  his  change,  "I  believe  that  I 
am  somewhat  impressed  with  the  importance  of  being 
an  eminent  Christian,,  and  of  giving  up  all  for  God." 
In  this  same  letter  he  gives  expression  to  the  feeling 
that  he  was  to  become  a  missionary.  His  mother  had 

[  220  ] 


Biographical  Sketches 

often  expressed  such  a  hope,  and  of  late  he  had  been 
deeply  impressed  by  reading  a  fervent  appeal  addressed 
to  young  men  by  Dr.  William  Scudder  of  Madras. 

But  his  purpose  to  become  a  missionary  was  not  to 
be  carried  out  without  tempting  offers  in  other  lines  of 
usefulness.  In  his  college  studies  he  was  particularly 
proficient  in  mathematics  and  the  natural  sciences. 
This  proficiency  brought  to  him  in  his  Junior  year  the 
offer  of  a  post  in  the  United  States  Exploring  Expedi- 
tion, then  about  to  sail  for  the  South  Pacific,  under 
Commander  Wilkes.  Although  the  position  was  one  of 
honor  as  well  as  of  emolument,  he  declined  it  because 
he  regarded  himself  as  consecrated  to  the  work  of  the 
ministry.  Later  in  his  collegiate  course  his  enthusiasm 
for  scientific  pursuits  weakened,  somewhat,  not  only 
his  zeal  for  foreign  missions,  but  even  for  the  immediate 
duties  of  the  Christian  life.  Under  the  instruction  of 
Professors  Olmsted  and  Silliman  he  developed  a  pas- 
sion for  astronomy.  The  mechanical  skill  which  he  de- 
veloped in  his  boyhood  was  revived  and  enabled  him  to 
construct,  from  crude  materials,  two  telescopes,  one  of 
them  magnifying  from  two  to  four  hundred  times. 

Graduating  with  honor  in  1838,  he  entered  almost 
immediately  upon  a  tutorship  in  Marshall  College, 
Pennsylvania.  This  tutorship  he  held  for  a  year,  and 
about  this  time  was  called  to  a  professorship  of  Natural 
Science  in  Marietta  College,  Ohio.  Such  a  position, 
honorable  and  useful  as  it  was,  and  for  which  he  had 
shown  a  special  fitness,  possessed  many  attractions  for 
him,  but  a  solemn  and  full  consideration  of  his  life  work 
at  this  time  only  confirmed  his  determination  to  preach 
Christ.  Had  he  chosen  teaching  as  his  profession,  he 
would  undoubtedly  have  become  eminent  in  his  depart- 
ment and  would  have  made  lasting  impressions  on  the 
characters  of  his  pupils.  His  ideal  of  the  teacher's  du- 
ties, learned  perhaps  under  tutor  Calhoun  at  Williams, 

[221] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

may  be  inferred  from  an  extract  from  a  letter  to  his 
brother:  "It  is  but  a  small  portion  of  my  duty,"  he 
writes,  "to  instruct  in  Latin  and  Greek;  I  mingle  with 
the  students  at  our  daily  meals;  they  often  call  at  my 
room  for  direction  or  advice — at  which  times  I  draw 
them  into  conversation;  I  instruct  thirty  in  a  Bible 
class  on  the  Sabbath." 

His  more  mature  purpose  to  enter  the  ministry 
turned  him  aside  from  his  favorite  sciences  to  the  study 
of  languages  and  literature.  About  this  time  he  took 
up  the  study  of  Hebrew  and  German.  Refusing  an  at- 
tractive invitation  to  become  the  assistant  of  Professor 
Loomis  in  the  mathematical  and  philosophical  depart- 
ment at  Western  Reserve  College,  in  the  fall  of  1839 
he  entered  the  Theological  Seminary  at  Andover. 
Here,  as  a  means  of  support  he  taught  two  hours  a  day 
in  the  academy,  and  for  a  few  weeks  he  acted  as  tutor 
at  Middlebury  College.  The  offer  of  a  tutorship  at 
Yale  placed  before  him  the  opportunity  of  providing 
for  his  support  and  of  pursuing  his  theological  studies 
at  the  same  time.  In  accepting  this  appointment  which 
he  held  for  two  years,  he  was  influenced  largely  by  the 
hope  he  had  of  exerting  a  direct  influence  for  good  upon 
the  minds  of  the  young  men.  He  felt  a  deep  religious 
responsibility  for  his  class,  and  his  letters  show  that  in 
his  work  at  Yale  he  grew  more  and  more  spiritual. 
Before  the  close  of  the  year  he  was  rejoicing  in  one  of 
those  revivals  which  formerly  visited  the  college  in  al- 
most every  generation  of  students. 

As  he  drew  near  to  the  close  of  his  theological  course 
and  of  the  period  of  his  tutorship,  he  became  more  and 
more  impressed  with  the  responsibility  of  preaching  the 
gospel.  In  May,  1842,  he  was  licensed  to  preach  by  an 
association  of  Congregational  ministers  in  Western 
Massachusetts.  In  September  of  that  year  he  inci- 
dentally met  at  Middlebury,  Vermont,  Rev.  Justin 

[  222] 


Biographical  Sketches 

Perkins,  D.D.,  who  had  recently  returned  to 
the  United  States  from  the  Nestorian  Mission,  with 
the  Nestorian  Bishop,  Mar  Yohannan,  and  who  urged 
upon  Mr.  Stoddard's  attention  the  claims  of  that  mis- 
sion. The  result  of  two  subsequent  interviews  with 
Dr.  Perkins  was  Mr.  Stoddard's  definite  decision  to  de- 
vote himself  to  the  missionary  work.  This  decision,  once 
formed,  was  to  him  unalterable  and  irrevocable  and 
gave  new  tone  to  his  daily  life.  This  chosen  work  of  life 
he  looked  upon  not  as  a  task  or  sacrifice,  but  as  a  privi- 
lege and  blessing.  On  December  15, 1842,  he  made  for- 
mal application  to  the  American  Board  to  be  appointed 
to  the  Nestorian  Mission.  He  was  ordained  in  New 
Haven,  Connecticut,  January  27,  1843,  the  Rev.  Joel 
Hawes,  D.D.,  of  Hartford,  preaching  the  sermon.  On 
March  1,  1843,  he  and  his  wife  sailed  from  Boston  for 
Urumia,  arriving  at  their  destination  on  June  14 
following.  On  the  same  vessel  were  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Per- 
kins, the  pioneers  of  the  Nestorian  Mission;  Mar  Yo- 
hannan returning  to  his  native  land ;  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bliss 
—to  take  up  their  residence  at  Trebizond — Miss  Cath- 
erine E.  Myers  and  Miss  Fidelia  Fiske,  who  were  to 
take  charge  of  female  schools  at  Urumia.  The  voyage 
was  to  Smyrna  and  thence  to  Trebizond  by  water.  The 
journey  from  this  latter  place  was  by  caravan  across 
the  mountains  of  Armenia  and  the  plains  of  Persia. 

The  district  of  Urumia  lies  at  the  base  of  the  Kur- 
dish mountains  in  the  northwestern  province  of  Persia. 
In  an  amphitheatre  inclosed  between  spurs  of  the  moun- 
tains and  the  lake  lies  the  plain  of  Urumia,  which  is 
about  forty  miles  in  length  and  ranging  in  width  from 
ten  to  twenty  miles.  It  teems  with  an  almost  tropical 
vegetation  and  has  been  described  as  "dotted  over  with 
some  300  villages,  each  surrounded  with  luxuriant 
wheat-fields,  vineyards,  fruit-gardens,  and  melon- 
patches  ;  while  the  plain  in  every  part  is  intersected  with 

[228] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

numberless  water-courses,  diverted  from  the  principal 
rivers,  whose  banks,  fringed  with  willows,  remind  one 
of  the  beautiful  promise  of  Jehovah  to  the  children  of 
his  people,  'they  shall  spring  up  as  willows  by  the  water- 
courses.' '  This  region  is  the  home  of  the  remnant  of 
the  Nestorian  Church.  The  first  mission  to  this  people 
was  established  in  the  city  of  Urumia,  which  had  a  pop- 
ulation of  about  25,000,  but  owing  to  the  intense  heat 
of  the  plains,  a  health  resort  was  established  at  Seir,  a 
mountain  about  five  miles  from  the  city. 

The  sect  of  the  Nestorians  originated  in  a  protest 
against  the  worship  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  and  the  people 
have  been  appropriately  called  The  Protestants  of  Asia. 
Their  worship,  however,  is  encumbered  with  many  use- 
less ceremonies  and  when  American  missionaries  first 
went  among  them,  the  people  as  a  whole  were  sunk  in 
ignorance  and  formalism.  But  in  their  freedom  of  ac- 
cess to  the  people  and  in  the  reverence  with  which  they 
are  received,  the  missionaries  to  this  interesting  people 
stand  upon  an  unusually  favorable  footing. 

The  welcome  extended  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Stoddard 
could  hardly  have  been  more  cordial  had  they  been  old 
friends  to  the  people.  The  following  extract  from  a 
letter  of  Mr.  Stoddard  to  his  parents  describes  the 
events  of  the  last  stages  of  their  long  journey:  "The 
next  morning  we  started  again  very  early  and  were  at 
Gavalan  by  breakfast  time.  As  we  approached  the 
village,  five  or  six  on  horseback  galloped  out  to  meet  us, 
with  cries  of  'Hoshe  geldiz,  hoshe  geldiz'  (You  have 
come  welcome).  They  proved  to  be  friends  from  the 
mission,  whose  names  were  familiar  to  us  all — Priest 
Abraham,  Joseph,  Mar  Yohannan's  brother,  John,  and 
Moses.  On  entering  the  village,  men,  women,  and  chil- 
dren poured  out  to  join  and  welcome  our  party.  We 
were  escorted  as  if  in  a  triumphal  procession  through 
the  town  to  the  house  of  Mar  Yohannan's  father.  The 

[224] 


Biographical  Sketches 

old  couple  were  overjoyed;  said  that  they  were  made 
some  years  younger  by  their  son's  return,  and  that  they 
praised  God  for  his  goodness.  Soon  Mar  Joseph,  an 
old  bishop  with  a  silver  beard,  and  half  a  dozen  priests 
from  Urumia,  came  in  with  their  ffSalam  aleykim" 
(Peace — peace  be  to  you).  Our  tents  were  erected  in 
the  old  priest's  garden,  and  during  the  day  we  were 
thronged  with  visitors.  My  heart  was  full.  I  was  not 
prepared  for  such  a  welcome — such  a  hearty  grasp  of 
the  hand — such  an  overflowing  of  cordial  feeling." 
While  Mr.  Stoddard  felt  that  some  of  the  motives  un- 
derlying the  welcome  might  be  due  to  unworthy  mo- 
tives, yet  in  the  actual  experience  of  missionary  life, 
his  correspondence  reveals  no  expression  of  regret  or 
discontent. 

Mr.  Stoddard  at  once  devoted  himself  with  eager- 
ness to  the  study  of  Turkish  and  modern  Syriac.  His 
fine  classical  scholarship  made  the  acquisition  of  the  ori- 
ental tongues  a  comparatively  easy  task,  and  so  rapid 
was  his  progress  in  Syriac  that  in  October,  1843,  five 
months  after  his  arrival  at  Urumia,  he  was  able  to  take 
considerable  part  in  the  instruction  of  Nestorian  youth. 
About  this  time  the  male  seminary  was  reorganized 
and  committed  to  his  care.  Of  his  peculiar  fitness  for 
that  position  Dr.  Perkins  has  said:  "We  all  felt  that  no 
living  man  could  be  found  more  competent  to  assume 
the  very  responsible  task  of  rearing  a  generation  of 
well-educated  and  pious  Nestorian  preachers,  whether 
we  regarded  the  very  high  order  of  his  own  intellect,  his 
finished  culture,  his  moral  character,  or  his  holy  walk 
and  conversation.  And  the  result  has  shown  that  we 
did  not  misjudge  in  the  matter." 

The  mission  was  not  without  its  trials  and  in  these 
Mr.  Stoddard  had  his  share.  Within  the  period  of  the 
first  two  years  of  his  missionary  life  there  arose  the  vio- 
lent opposition  of  the  Patriarch  and  his  family,  which, 

[235] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

combined  with  the  intrigues  of  the  Jesuits,  compelled 
the  missionaries  of  the  Board  to  close  all  the  schools 
which  they  had  established  outside  the  mission  prem- 
ises and  to  remodel  the  seminary  at  Urumia.  For  a 
time  he  had  but  ten  or  a  dozen  boys  to  teach  and  that  too 
in  his  family,  yet  he  did  not  repine,  and  at  that  very 
time  could  write:  "I  do  not  envy  the  situation  of  any 
living  man;  I  am  just  where  God  would  have  me  be, 
and  here  I  mean  to  stay  just  so  long  as  He  wants  me; 
then  I  shall  be  ready  to  go  somewhere  else." 

Mr.  Stoddard  was  an  eloquent  and  earnest  preacher, 
and  as  a  teacher  the  spiritual  welfare  of  his  pupils  was 
ever  uppermost  in  his  thoughts.  His  knowledge  of  as- 
tronomy and  his  mechanical  skill  were  of  great  service 
to  the  mission.  He  transported  from  Boston  to 
Urumia  the  telescope  he  had  constructed  and  made 
good  use  of  it  in  advancing  the  cause  of  science,  and 
even  of  religion.  To  remedy  the  lack  of  punctuality 
in  the  exercises  of  the  seminary  he  constructed  sun-dials 
at  various  points.  When  a  large  plain  clock  was  re- 
ceived from  America  he  learned  how  to  clean  and  regu- 
late it.  He  was  an  expert  in  repairing  a  wagon,  and 
was  able  to  superintend  the  unskilled  Persian  workmen 
employed  in  erecting  or  repairing  buildings  for  the 
mission.  But  all  this  was  subordinate  and  contributory 
to  the  saving  of  souls.  He  continually  yearned  for  the 
outpouring  of  God's  spirit.  In  the  year  1846  occurred 
in  both  the  male  and  female  seminaries  a  powerful  re- 
vival of  religion,  which  extended  also  to  the  villages. 
It  was  the  first  general  awakening  in  a  church  which 
had  slept  for  ages.  A  full  and  most  interesting  narra- 
tive of  this  revival  was  prepared  by  Mr.  Stoddard  at 
the  request  of  the  mission.  The  effects  of  the  revival 
were  long  noticeable  in  the  general  tone  of  the  students. 
Not  only  were  the  professing  Christians  more  spirit- 
ually minded,  but  even  those  who  made  no  profes- 

[228] 


Biographical  Sketches 

sion  of  religion  were  more  diligent  in  the  acquisition  of 
knowledge. 

About  this  time  Mr.  Stoddard  made  a  tour  among 
the    Nestorians    of    the    mountains.     He    spared    no 
strength  in  his  eagerness  to  save  souls.     Often  after 
preaching  in  the  village  church,  he  would  converse  con- 
cerning the  things  of  the  kingdom  till  late  at  night  with 
a  little  group  on  the  housetop.     He  was  of  slender 
physical  frame  and  these  manifold  labors  began  to  tell 
seriously  on  his  health.     About  this  time,  from  consid- 
erations of  expediency  and  partly  for  the  improvement 
of  his  health,  the  mission  decided  to  remove  the  male 
seminary  from  the  city  to  Mount  Seir.     Mr.  Stoddard 
was  asked  by  the  mission  to  superintend  the  work  of 
erecting  a  new  building,  in  the  hope,  partly,  that  the 
relaxation  would  benefit  his  health.     In  the  summer  of 
1847  there  came  at  Urumia  a  fearful  visitation  of  the 
cholera.    The  added  care  and  anxiety  of  this  period  told 
seriously  upon  Mr.  Stoddard's  health,  and  in  Septem- 
ber the  mission  urged  him  to  try  the  effect  of  a  journey 
to  Erzroom.     He  failed  to  find  the  benefit  hoped  for 
and  almost  immediately  on  his  return  he  was  prostrated 
with  an  illness  which  kept  him  an  invalid  for  many 
months.     His  convalescence  was  slow  and  by  no  means 
equal  to  the  ardor  with  which  he  resumed  his  work. 
The  heat  of  the  summer  so  prostrated  him  that  he  was 
urged  to  take  an  entire  release  from  labor  and  try  the 
effect  of  a  journey  to  Erzroom,  Trebizond,  and  Con- 
stantinople.    He  was   destined  to  be  called  to  pass 
through  deep  waters.     Reaching  Trebizond  near  the 
end  of  July  with  his  wife,  two  children  and  nurse,  he 
was  detained  in  quarantine  by  reason  of  the  cholera, 
and  within  a  few  days  his  wife  was  suddenly  taken  from 
him  by  the  disease.     Forming  the  purpose  to  take  the 
children  to  America,  he  proceeded  to  Constantinople, 
when  death  met  his  family  again  and  removed,  by  the 

[227] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

same  disease,  the  nurse  who  had  cared  for  the  children. 
From  Constantinople  he  proceeded  to  England  and 
then  to  Scotland  to  visit  a  brother  residing  near  Glas- 
gow. He  reached  America  the  last  week  in  October, 
1849,  his  intention  being,  after  a  brief  sojourn  in  this 
country  and  finding  a  home  for  his  children,  to  return 
to  his  field  early  in  the  spring  of  the  following  year. 
Instead  of  a  few  months  his  sojourn  was  prolonged 
to  two  years  and  a  half.  His  heart  was  in  the  mission 
field  and  three  times  during  this  period  he  assayed  to 
go  back  to  his  beloved  Nestorians,  but  was  hindered  by 
the  events  of  Providence.  The  recovery  of  his  health 
was  slow  because  of  the  incessant  labors  in  which  he  en- 
gaged here.  These  labors  were  of  the  greatest  impor- 
tance to  the  cause  of  missions.  He  visited  the  various 
theological  seminaries,  to  enlist  missionaries  for  the 
Nestorians,  and  addressed  churches  and  various  Chris- 
tian assemblies  throughout  the  United  States.  His 
addresses  were  remarkable  for  the  graphic  description 
of  his  field,  for  the  comprehensive  view  of  the  mission- 
ary work,  and  for  the  enthusiasm  with  which  he  was 
lifted  above  himself  and  carried  his  audience  with  him. 
His  addresses,  with  the  "seraphic  glow  of  his  counte- 
nance," at  the  meeting  of  the  Board  in  Pittsfield  were 
an  inspiration  to  all  who  were  present.  Some  idea  of 
his  constant  activities  may  be  gathered  from  this  descrip- 
tion of  a  missionary  convention  in  Vermont:  "The 
meetings  were  animated  and  I  hope  profitable  for  us  all. 
I  did  not  get  off  with  less  than  four  addresses,  all  of 
which  would  be  nearly  two  hours  in  length.  I  begged 
hard  to  be  excused,  but  there  are  some  places  where  beg- 
ging is  of  no  avail.  I  stayed  at  home  from  one  meet- 
ing (of  the  Sabbath-school  scholars),  on  purpose  to 
avoid  importunity;  but  they  sent  two  strong  men  and 
dragged  me  out.  What  could  I  do  ?  A  poor  weak  man 
that  weighs  only  117  pounds?" 

[  228  ] 


Biographical  Sketches 

Much  of  his  time  was  spent  in  the  immediate  serv- 
ice of  the  Board.  A  most  important  service  was  ren- 
dered by  him  when,  at  the  request  of  the  Secretaries, 
he  took  charge  of  the  Journal  of  Missions  and  of  the 
Day  spring,  which,  in  a  short  time,  reached  the  circu- 
lation of  50,000  each.  About  this  time  he  was  applied 
to  to  take  charge  of  Mount  Holyoke  Seminary,  but  he 
was  becoming  more  and  more  eager  to  join  his  mission- 
ary associates  in  Persia,  with  whom  he  kept  in  close 
communication . 

When  the  time  came  for  him  to  return  to  his  field, 
it  was  evident  that  the  Providence  of  God  had  used  his 
detention  in  this  country  to  prepare  him  for  higher  use- 
fulness. In  that  long  period  his  system  had  become  re- 
invigorated,  his  sorrows  soothed,  and  one  given  to  him 
to  restore  his  shattered  home  arid  to  become  his  helper 
in  the  missionary  life. 

On  the  4th  of  March,  1851,  he  and  his  wife  and 
daughter  Harriette,  with  Misses  Cowles  and  Whittle- 
sey  and  Mr.  Rhea,  all  destined  to  the  oriental  field,  em- 
barked at  Boston  for  Smyrna.  His  return  to  Urumia 
gave  occasion  for  a  most  hearty  welcome.  After  speak- 
ing of  the  welcome  received  at  the  village  of  Mar  Yo- 
hannan,  he  continues  his  account:  "The  next  morning, 
while  crossing  the  plain  of  Urumia,  we  arrived  at  a  vil- 
lage twelve  miles  from  the  city,  where  a  company  of  our 
brethren  and  sisters,  with  their  little  ones  and  many 
Nestorians,  met  and  greeted  us  with  deep  and  tender 
emotions.  A  tent  had  been  pitched  and  a  breakfast 
prepared  and  we  all  sat  down  on  the  grass,  under  the 
grateful  shade,  to  partake  of  the  bounties  of  Providence. 
Our  hearts  were  full.  .  .  . 

"And  when,  soon  after  noonday,  we  set  out  for  the 
city,  our  progress  resembled  more  a  triumphal  proces- 
sion than  a  caravan  of  weary  travelers.  Every  succes- 
sive mile  added  to  our  numbers,  and  our  way  was  often 

[229] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

almost  blocked  up  by  the  people  who  came  in  throngs 
to  meet  us — some  on  horseback — some  on  foot — bish- 
ops— priests — deacons — village  school  teachers — mem- 
bers of  the  seminary,  with  whom  I  had  many  times 
wept,  and  prayed,  and  praised — all  pressing  forward  in 
eager  haste  to  grasp  our  hands,  and  swell  the  notes  of 
welcome." 

Mr.  Stoddard  returned  to  his  field  in  the  full  ma- 
turity of  his  powers.  He  had  the  experience  of  years 
of  training  in  the  missionary  service  and  had  now  the 
experience  of  protracted  intercourse  with  the  Secre- 
taries of  the  Board.  His  counsels,  always  valued, 
were  now  of  greater  worth,  because  after  his  long  ab- 
sence he  could  form  an  impartial  judgment  of  the  mis- 
sion and  its  work,  and  could  represent  the  views  of  the 
home  committee,  from  long  intercourse  with  whom  he 
had  recently  come. 

He  entered  with  zeal  upon  the  duties  of  the  semi- 
nary, now  assuming  the  extra  care  of  instructing  the 
older  pupils  in  theology.  He  also  had  charge  of  Geog 
Tapa,  ten  miles  distant,  where  he  spent  occasionally  a 
Sabbath,  and  where  was  a  Sabbath-school  of  300  pupils. 
He  took  an  enlarged  view  of  the  work  of  missions  and 
wrote  many  letters  to  missionaries  laboring  in  other 
fields.  The  superiority  of  his  scholarship  enabled  him 
to  render  efficient  service  in  the  field.  He  aided  Dr. 
Perkins  in  his  work  of  translating  the  New  Testament 
from  the  ancient  into  modern  Syriac.  He  also  pre- 
pared a  grammar  of  the  modern  Syriac  for  the  use  of 
beginners;  and  commenced  work  upon  a  dictionary  of 
the  same  language.  He  also  kept  up  his  old  interest  in 
the  physical  sciences,  particularly  in  astronomy,  among 
other  things  making  observations  on  the  zodiacal  light 
and  the  satellites  of  Jupiter,  which  attracted  the  atten- 
tion of  Sir  John  Herschel.  An  extended  notice  of  the 
meteorology  of  Urumia,  prepared  by  him,  was  pub- 

[230] 


Biographical  Sketches 

lished  in  Silliman's  Journal.  But  these  investigations 
he  regarded  as  incidental  and  conducive  to  the  great 
work  of  making  known  Jesus  Christ. 

Mr.  Stoddard  had  large  experience  in  dealing  with 
the  civil  authorities  and  more  than  once  was  sent  on  a 
mission  to  treat  with  the  Persian  officials  concerning  the 
work  of  the  missionaries  in  Urumia.  In  the  autumn 
of  1856  he  was  deputed  with  Dr.  Wright  to  undertake 
the  difficult  and  delicate  embassy  of  going  to  Tabriz, 
there  to  wait  upon  the  high  civic  functionaries.  On  his 
return  from  this  embassy,  which  was  not  very  success- 
ful, Mr.  Stoddard,  at  the  request  of  the  mission,  ad- 
dressed a  letter  to  Sir  J.  Anderson,  of  Glasgow,  setting 
forth  the  oppression  of  the  Nestorians,  and  expressing 
"the  earnest  hope  that,  on  the  return  of  the  English  em- 
bassy, free  toleration  may  be  secured  for  the  Christians 
of  Persia."  But  about  this  time,  in  the  Providence  of 
God,  relief  came  by  the  assassination  by  a  Kurd  of  the 
great  oppressor  of  Urumia  and  the  great  enemy  of  the 
mission  work  there.  A  letter  addressed  to  Rev.  Mr. 
Rhea  December  20,  1856,  describing  these  events, 
proved  to  be  the  last  letter  from  the  pen  of  Mr.  Stod- 
dard. His  stay  at  Tabriz  had  been  prolonged  to  three 
weeks,  during  which  time  he  suffered  from  a  change  of 
food  and  was  greatly  worried  about  the  affairs  of  the 
mission.  These  things  rendered  his  overworked  sys- 
tem peculiarly  liable  to  disease.  Before  reaching  Seir, 
on  his  homeward  journey,  he  suffered  from  a  fever 
which  proved  to  be  the  typhus.  On  reaching  home  and 
finding  two  of  the  native  teachers  laid  aside  by  sickness, 
he  took  double  lessons  in  the  seminary  and  even 
preached,  besides  attending  to  the  correspondence  that 
had  accumulated  in  his  absence.  Medical  skill  and  the 
most  tireless  nursing  could  not  subdue  the  fever  which 
was  lurking  in  his  veins  and  which  undermined  his 
Strength.  He  died  on  January  22,  1857.  The  funeral 

[231] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

services,  which  were  mostly  in  Syriac,  were  attended  by 
a  large  number  of  Nestorians,  from  the  former  pupils  of 
the  seminary,  from  Geog  Tapa,  and  other  near  villages. 
Mr.  Cochran  preached  from  the  text,  "Let  me  die  the 
death  of  the  righteous,"  and  Mar  Yohannan  offered  the 
last  prayer.  Even  Mohammedans  joined  in  paying 
tributes  to  the  memory  of  Mr.  Stoddard.  The  following 
extract  is  from  the  pen  of  one  of  his  colleagues,  Rev. 
Samuel  A.  Rhea:  "His  life  illustrates  the  value  of  thor- 
ough scholarship  for  the  missionary,  and  of  those  hab- 
its of  order,  system,  and  accuracy  which  characterize 
the  scholar.  The  pleasing  impression  which  he  made 
upon  all  classes,  shows  how  much  the  missionary  should 
cultivate  the  suaviter  in  modo  as  well  as  the  fortiter  in 
re,  and  a  more  perfect  illustration  of  what  a  missionary 
should  be  in  all  his  intercourse  with  his  associates,  of  a 
manly  expression  of  his  own  sentiments,  with  perfect 
tolerance  toward  the  opinion  of  others,  combined  with 
great  courteousness  and  gentleness,  would  be  hard 
to  find  among  the  walks  of  men.  He  was  ever  noble 
and  generous  to  confess  a  fault,  or  acknowledge  an 


error." 


The  following  passage,  quoted  in  the  sketch  of  Mr. 
Stoddard  given  in  the  "Encyclopaedia  of  Missions," 
contains  an  excellent  summary  of  his  leading  character- 
istics: "His  talents,  his  varied  acquirements,  his  energy 
and  activity  in  the  midst  of  weakness,  his  humility,  his 
devoted  piety,  his  kindly  sympathy  and  warm  affection, 
his  willing  gentleness,  meekness,  simplicity,  and  godly 
sincerity,  made  him  decidedly  'a  man  of  mark/  and  se- 
cured from  all  who  knew  him  high  respect,  and  from 
many  ardent  attachment." 

A  Memoir  of  Mr.  Stoddard  was  published,  soon 
after  his  death,  by  his  classmate  and  friend,  Rev.  Dr. 
Joseph  P.  Thompson,  then  pastor  of  the  Broadway 
Tabernacle  Church,  New  York  City.  To  that  Memoir, 

[232  ] 


Biographical  Sketches 

the  writer  of  the  present  sketch  acknowledges  his 
indebtedness. 

While  Mr.  Stoddard  was  an  eloquent  and  inspiring 
preacher,  the  two  principal  departments  of  his  mission- 
ary labors  were  his  teaching  in  the  seminary,  where  he 
instructed  youth  in  the  knowledge  of  Christian  civiliza- 
tion and  Biblical  divinity,  and  the  perfecting  of  the 
translation  of  the  Scriptures  from  the  ancient  Syriac 
into  the  vernacular.  The  influences  which  he  thus  set 
in  motion  are  still  in  operation  for  the  regeneration  of 
Persia. 

He  married  February  14,  1843,  Miss  Harriette 
Briggs,  daughter  of  Dr.  Calvin  Briggs  of  Marble- 
head,  Massachusetts.  She  died  of  cholera  at  Trebizond, 
August  2,  1848.  Their  children  were  two  daughters. 

He  was  married,  secondly,  to  Miss  Sophia  D., 
daughter  of  Rev.  Austin  Hazen,  of  Berlin,  Vermont, 
and  sister  of  Rev.  Allen  Hazen,  D.D.,  missionary  in 
Western  India. 

Besides  numerous  letters  published  in  the  Mission- 
ary Herald,  and  some  published,  posthumously,  in  the 
"Memoir,"  Mr.  Stoddard  published  "A  Grammar  of 
Modern  Syriac,"  in  the  Journal  of  the  American  Orien- 
tal Society  (1855),  and  a  "Notice  of  the  Meteorology 
of  Urumia"  in  Silliman's  Journal. 


CLASS  OF  1840 

HENKY  MARTYN  SCUDDER,  eldest  son  of  Rev.  John 
Scudder,  M.D.,  and  Harriet  (Waterbury)  Scudder, 
and  grandson  of  Dr.  Joseph  and  Maria  (Johnston) 
Scudder,  was  born  in  Panditeripo,  Jaffna  District,  Cey- 
lon, February  5,  1822.  The  family  is  descended  from 
Thomas  Scudder,  who  came  from  London,  England, 
to  Salem,  Massachusetts,  about  1635,  and  is  of  great 
distinction  both  in  England  and  in  the  history  of  this 

[233] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

country.  Colonel  Nathaniel  Scudder,  the  great-grand- 
father of  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was  a  graduate  of 
the  College  of  New  Jersey  in  the  class  of  1751,  and  for 
a  time  a  trustee  of  that  college ;  was  a  practising  physi- 
cian in  Monmouth  County,  New  Jersey;  a  member  of 
the  Committee  of  Safety;  Lieutenant-Colonel  in  1775, 
and  subsequently  Colonel  of  the  1st  Monmouth  County 
Regiment,  and  was  killed  while  leading  his  regiment 
against  the  British  at  Black  Point,  New  Jersey,  in 
1781.  He  also  represented  Monmouth  County  in  the 
New  Jersey  legislature  several  times;  was  Speaker  in 
1776;  delegate  to  the  Continental  Congress  1777-79; 
and  on  July  13,  1778,  he  visited  the  legislature  of  New 
Jersey  to  urge  upon  that  body  the  policy  of  signing 
the  Articles  of  Confederation.  Dr.  Nathaniel  Scudder 
was  a  close  personal  friend  of  Washington. 

Dr.  Scudder's  wife,  Isabella  Anderson,  was  a  fa- 
mous beauty  and  a  woman  of  rare  character  and  refine- 
ment. Her  grandfather,  Hon.  John  Anderson,  was 
President  of  His  Majesty's  Council,  Commander  in 
Chief  of  the  Province  of  New  Jersey,  and,  later,  Act- 
ing Governor  of  the  Province. 

The  name  of  Scudder  is  also  one  of  the  most  illus- 
trious in  the  annals  of  the  American  Board.  In  the 
index  of  Dr.  Anderson's  volume  on  India  is  a  list  of 
sixteen  missionaries  of  this  name;  all  kindred,  and  all 
but  two  belonging  to  the  same  branch  of  the  family. 
The  founder  of  this  famous  missionary  house  was  Rev. 
John  Scudder,  M.D.,  the  father  of  Henry  Martyn 
Scudder.  Graduating  as  had  his  father  and  grand- 
father, from  Princeton,  and  from  the  New  York  Col- 
lege of  Physicians,  he  practised  successfully  his  profes- 
sion in  New  York  City,  till  1819,  when  he  went  to  In- 
dia, as  the  first  medical  missionary  of  the  American 
Board.  He  settled  in  Ceylon,  where  he  labored  for 
nineteen  years  as  clergyman  and  physician,  his  most  m> 

[234] 


Biographical  Sketches 

portant  service  there  being  the  establishment  of  a  large 
hospital,  of  which  he  was  the  physician  in  charge.  He 
also  founded  several  native  schools  and  churches.  He 
was  transferred  to  the  Madura  station  in  1839,  and  with 
the  exception  of  the  years  1842-46,  which  were  spent  in 
the  United  States,  he  labored  there  till  the  time  of  his 
death  in  1855.  During  the  years  mentioned  above  as 
spent  in  the  United  States  he  devoted  himself  to  awak- 
ening a  missionary  spirit  among  the  rising  generation, 
and  in  that  time  he  addressed  over  100,000  children. 
He  was  the  author  of  various  published  writings  of  a 
religious  nature.  Of  fourteen  children,  all  of  the  seven 
sons  and  two  daughters  who  reached  adult  years,  be- 
came missionaries  in  Southern  India.  These  sons  are 
said  to  have  given  more  than  250  years  of  service  to  mis- 
sionary work  in  India.  Of  Dr.  Scudder  Dr.  Anderson 
wrote,  "His  aim  was  single,  his  labors  indefatigable, 
and  it  is  presumed  his  energies  could  not  have  found  a 
more  ample  scope." 

Henry  Martyn  Scudder  came  to  the  United  States 
in  1832,  when  he  was  ten  years  of  age.  The  years  of 
his  preparatory  studies,  some  of  which  were  spent  at 
Greenwich,  Connecticut,  were  cheerless  ones.  Poverty 
combined  with  harsh  treatment  from  companions  and 
teachers  to  make  his  boyhood  "hard,  sad,  loveless." 

Ready  for  entrance  to  college  at  the  age  of  fourteen, 
he  was  prevented  by  poverty  from  going  to  Princeton, 
where  three  generations  of  ancestors  had  been  gradu- 
ated, and  entered  New  York  University.  Owing  to 
some  trouble  in  the  faculty  there,  Scudder  with  some 
other  students  left  in  the  Junior  year  and  entered 
Williams  College  as  a  member  of  the  class  of  1840.  In 
consequence  of  his  hard  experience  as  a  friendless 
youth,  which  had  produced  in  him  a  strong  distaste  for 
religion,  he  steeled  himself  against  the  teachings  of  his 
parents  and  lived  a  reckless  life.  It  was  the  personal 

[235] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

influence  of  President  Hopkins,  who  took  young  Scud- 
der  into  his  own  home,  which  checked  the  wild  career  of 
the  youth.  He  remained  in  Williams  less  than  a  year, 
and  returning  to  the  University  of  New  York,  was 
graduated  there  in  1840.  In  Williams  he  became  a 
member  of  the  Philotechnian  Society  and  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  New  York  a  member  of  the  Psi  Upsilon 
Fraternity.  He  was  a  superior  scholar,  attaining  to 
the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  rank.  In  his  Senior  year  he  was 
converted  under  the  evangelistic  preaching  of  Rev.  Dr. 
Edward  N.  Kirk,  who  was  then  holding  special  exer- 
cises in  the  old  Carmine  Street  Church.  He  united 
with  this  church  in  April  of  his  Senior  year.  His  reli- 
gious experience,  like  Paul's,  was  a  definite  and  whole- 
souled  change.  From  the  moment  of  his  conversion, 
missionary  service  in  India  became  his  ruling  idea.  He 
entered  Union  Theological  Seminary  in  the  fall  of  1840, 
graduating  as  Bachelor  of  Divinity  three  years  later. 
In  the  seminary,  as  in  college,  he  had  to  contend  with 
poverty,  supporting  himself  by  addressing  copies  of  the 
New  York  Observer  to  subscribers,  receiving  therefor 
$1.50  per  week, — his  entire  income.  He  was  licensed 
to  preach  by  the  Third  Presbytery  of  New  York,  April 
5,  1843,  commissioned  missionary  of  the  American 
Board  to  India,  July  11,  and  ordained  by  the  same 
Presbytery  November  10.  For  one  year,  1843-44,  he 
was  stated  supply  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  New 
Rochelle,  New  York.  Recommendations  sent  to  the 
American  Board  show  how  the  personality  of  Mr. 
Scudder  had  impressed  older  men  who  had  come  in  con- 
tact with  him.  Chancellor  Theodore  Frelinghuysen,  of 
the  University  of  New  York,  wrote:  "His  mind  is 
very  active,  acute,  and  discriminating, — his  feelings  are 
naturally  ardent,  but  controlled  by  a  resolution  that  is 
the  fruit  of  a  good  measure  of  Christian  decision. 
From  his  very  commendable  progress  in  science  here, 

[236] 


Biographical  Sketches 

I  have  no  doubt  that  his  attainments  are  now  of  supe- 
rior order."  Rev.  Drs.  Henry  White  and  Edward 
Robinson  wrote:  "Mr.  Scudder  is  characterized  by 
deep  and  ardent  piety,  and  by  devotedness  to  the  work 
of  the  Lord.  His  talents  are  of  a  high  order;  indeed 
we  know  of  few  young  men,  from  whom  more  may  be 
anticipated  in  this  respect." 

On  May  6,  1844,  Mr.  Scudder,  with  his  wife  and 
some  others,  among  them  Rev.  Henry  R.  Hoisington 
(Williams  1828)  and  wife,  embarked  from  Boston  in 
one  of  Tudor's  rice  ships  for  India.  After  a  voyage 
of  120  days  he  arrived  in  Madras  September  5.  He 
was  said  to  be  the  first  missionary  son  sent  forth  by  the 
Board. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Scudder  were  stationed  first  at 
Madura  (1844-46),  and  next  at  Madras  (1846-50). 
Impressed  with  the  great  value  of  medical  work, 
Mr.  Scudder  studied  medicine  in  the  English  Med- 
ical College  in  Madras  and  after  completing  his 
studies,  received  the  degree  of  M.  D.  from  the  Uni- 
versity of  New  York  in  1853.  He  was  thus  the  fourth 
physician  in  direct  family  descent,  and  was  for  a 
time  associated  with  his  father,  whom  he  assisted  in 
the  practice  of  medicine.  Having  rented  a  house 
in  the  most  populous  part  of  the  city,  by  preaching  in 
the  yard  or  street  they  were  enabled  to  reach  many 
thousands.  They  also  distributed  a  great  number  of 
Tamil  and  Telugu  books  and  tracts.  A  house  of  wor- 
ship was  erected  at  Chintadrepettah,  which  place  to- 
gether with  the  station  at  Madras  gave  them  regular 
congregations  of  about  500. 

In  a  letter  written  from  Madras  in  1848,  Mr.  Scud- 
der gives  his  ideal  of  what  a  missionary  in  India  should 
be  and  do,  "Some  may  say,"  he  writes,  "that  'a  mis- 
sionary's duty  is  simply  to  deliver  his  message  and  avoid 
all  discussions.'  If  that  be  admitted,  then  the  mission- 

[237] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

ary's  talents  and  attainments  need  to  be  but  slender. 
But  I  feel  great  difficulty  in  admitting  this.  When  I 
deliver  the  message,  it  is  assailed.  Acute  intellects 
press  upon  me  their  objections.  Every  point  in  the 
Christian  system  will,  when  known,  be  minutely  ques- 
tioned. Reasons  will  be  demanded;  and  I  cannot  be- 
lieve that  my  duty  has  ceased  with  the  mere  delivering 
of  the  message.  I  feel  that,  to  the  best  of  my  ability, 
I  must  defend  Christianity  against  the  systems  of  In- 
dia. Hindus  are  now  becoming  acquainted  with  the 
Christian  religion,  and  are  rising  to  the  work  of  attack- 
ing it  on  every  side,  and  of  extolling  and  defending 
their  own  religion.  Can  a  missionary  be  quiet? 
When  the  infidels  of  Europe  rose  en  masse  against  the 
gospel,  did  not  Christian  ministers  defend  the  truth? 
Would  they  have  been  justified  in  remaining  silent  at 
such  a  time?  Hinduism  and  Christianity  are  meet- 
ing in  conflict.  We  need  men  of  sanctified  talents,  men 
who  can  cope  with  minds  as  subtle  as  those  of  European 
infidels,  and  that  too  in  a  language  not  their  own." 

Being  anxious  to  get  out  to  the  frontier,  Mr.  Scud- 
der  with  his  wife  in  1850  moved  to  Arcot,  which  lies 
seventy-one  miles  west  from  Madras,  and  in  1851,  be- 
ing joined  by  his  brother,  Rev.  W.  W.  Scudder,  the 
Arcot  Mission  was  duly  founded.  He  opened  in  this 
city  a  hospital  which  to-day  is  under  the  charge  of  his 
nephew,  Rev.  L.  R.  Scudder,  M.D.,  and  gave  himself 
unreservedly  to  general  missionary  work.  In  1851  the 
mission  at  Arcot  was  detached  from  the  Madras  Mis- 
sion and  was  carried  on  wholly  by  the  Scudder  family, 
consisting  of  five  brothers,  their  wives  and  a  sister. 
This  mission,  which  occupied  the  North  Arcot  District, 
contained  more  than  1,000,000  souls.  Stations  were 
opened  at  Vellore,  Chittur,  and  Arnee.  The  principal 
work  of  the  mission  was  preaching,  which  was  carried  on 
in  the  streets  of  the  towns  and  villages  of  the  whole  dis- 

[238} 


Biographical  Sketches 

trict.  For  this  work  the  brethren  of  the  mission  had  a 
peculiar  fitness,  born  as  they  had  been  of  missionary 
parents  in  India  and  taught  the  spoken  language  at  an 
early  date.  Besides  preaching  the  gospel  freely  in  al- 
most every  street  of  their  stations,  as  they  reported,  the 
brethren  made  several  extended  tours  and  established 
for  children  of  professed  and  nominal  Christians,  six 
schools,  containing  over  100  pupils. 

In  1857  the  Arcot  Mission  was  transferred  to  the 
Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of  the  Reformed  Dutch 
Church,  and  Dr.  Scudder  and  the  other  members  were 
released  from  their  connection  with  the  American 
Board.  In  December  of  this  year,  Dr.  Scudder,  thor- 
oughly broken  down  in  health,  left  for  the  United 
States.  Years  of  intense  study, — fourteen  to  sixteen 
hours  per  day, — in  the  oppressive  climate  of  India,  ideas 
of  missionary  economy  which  directed  the  non-use  of 
punkas  as  a  luxury,  and  untiring  work  as  a  preacher, 
physician,  itinerating  evangelist,  and  translator,  finally 
did  their  work  and  made  a  change  necessary.  He  had 
become  a  master  in  the  use  of  the  Tamil,  -the  language 
of  his  childhood,  and  his  experience  in  street  preaching 
had  brought  him  face  to  face  with  disputing  Brahmans. 
Years  of  such  practice  had  developed  in  him  a  rare 
power  of  utterance,  wit,  and  readiness  to  meet  emergen- 
cies, wedded  to  pungent,  pithy  expressions.  Landing 
in  New  York  in  April,  1858,  in  the  flourishing  period 
of  the  American  Lyceum,  he  at  once  found  himself  in 
demand  as  a  lecturer.  He  was  familiar  with  India's 
religious  philosophy  and  had  spent  years  in  studying 
the  sayings  of  her  sages.  His  knowledge  of  Sanskrit, 
Tamil,  and  Telegu  gave  him  a  culture  of  unusual 
breadth.  The  message  he  had  was  fresh,  vital,  abound- 
ing in  human  interest,  and  brilliant  with  intellectual 
research.  He  was  everywhere  greeted  by  crowded  audi- 
ences and  for  two  years  hardly  a  moment's  rest  was  al- 

[230] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

lowed  him.  After  six  months  of  absolute  quiet  on  the 
shores  of  Lake  Geneva,  he  returned  towards  the  end  of 
1860  to  India.  It  became  apparent,  however,  to  the 
mission  on  his  return  that  he  could  not  hope  to  work 
again  in  the  heated  climate  of  the  plains.  He  accord- 
ingly removed  to  the  Neilgherry  Hills,  where  the  cli- 
mate was  milder,  being  stationed  first  in  Conoor  and 
then  in  Cotacamund.  The  entire  time  from  1860  to 
1866  he  spent  here  in  literary  work,  producing  "The 
Bazaar  Book"  and  other  classics,  and  bringing  out  an 
"Improved  Edition  of  Rhenius'  Tamil  Grammar." 

A  second  time  the  heat  of  the  climate  brought  on 
serious  brain  disease  and  the  physicians  sent  him  home 
with  the  injunction  to  surrender  all  further  thought  of 
missionary  service  in  India.  Returning  to  this  coun- 
try, he  reached  New  York  September  15,  1864, 
resigned  from  the  Board  of  the  Reformed  Church  De- 
cember 1,  and  accepted  the  pastorate  of  the  Grand 
Street  Reformed  Church,  Jersey  City,  New  Jersey,  De- 
cember 5  of  the  same  year.  He  was  soon  called  to  a 
more  important  field,  the  Howard  Presbyterian  Church 
in  San  Francisco,  and  remained  there  from  June,  1865, 
to  March,  1871.  Here  he  exerted  a  wide  influence  and 
attracted  to  his  church  men  of  great  diversities  of  gifts, 
among  them  judges,  intellectual  leaders,  rough  miners, 
and  men  foremost  in  business.  Compelled  by  ill 
health  to  resign  this  pastorate,  he  soon  received  calls 
to  three  important  churches,  one  to  a  leading  Presby- 
terian church  in  Chicago,  a  second  to  the  Westminster 
Presbyterian  Church  in  Brooklyn,  New  York,  and  the 
third  to  the  Central  Congregational  Church  in  the  same 
city.  -  He  chose  the  last  because  it  was  the  smallest. 
This  pastorate,  which  began  April  2,  1871,  and  lasted 
till  1882,  was  singularly  happy  and  successful.  The 
church  grew  from  a  membership  of  350  into  one  of 
1350,  with  a  large  annual  accession  of  new  members. 

[  240] 


Biographical  Sketches 

During  the  summer  of  1882,  becoming  conscious  that 
the  burden  he  was  carrying  was  too  heavy  for  him,  he 
wisely  determined  to  seek  a  new  field,  though  his  people 
would  have  gladly  given  him  the  help  of  an  assistant. 
From  November  19,  1882,  until  March  6,  1887,  he  was 
pastor  of  Plymouth  Church,  Chicago.  His  ministry 
here  was  attended  with  the  same  success,  but  after  a 
period  of  four  years  and  three  months,  was  brought  to 
an  end  by  serious  illness.  About  the  time  of  his  recov- 
ery there  came  word  from  Japan  of  the  marvellous 
movement  which  seemed  to  promise  a  speedy  winning 
of  that  empire  to  the  Kingdom  of  Christ.  Knowledge 
of  this  led  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Scudder  to  take  up  inde- 
pendent mission  work  in  Japan,  where  their  son  and 
daughter  had  been  engaged  as  missionaries  since  1884. 
On  their  departure  from  San  Francisco  in  June,  1877, 
they  received  a  hearty  Godspeed  from  the  pastors  and 
churches  of  California,  and  on  their  reaching  Niigata, 
October  8,  they  with  others  in  the  party  were  accorded 
a  most  hearty  reception  from  the  members  of  the  Pres- 
byterian and  Congregational  churches  and  the  pupils  of 
the  boys'  and  girls'  schools.  An  early  letter  from  Dr. 
Scudder  stated  that  he  was  hard  at  work  on  the  lan- 
guage and  had  found  the  field  intensely  interesting 
"with  prospects  of  glad  harvest."  He  lectured  in  many 
of  the  institutions  of  Japan,  where  he  was  most  cor- 
dially welcomed.  During  the  winter  of  1888-89,  he1 
lectured  to  large  audiences  in  Tokyo,  the  lectures  being 
six  in  number  on  the  subjects,  "Is  there  a  God?"  "How 
Can  We  Know  Him?"  "Mystery,"  and  "The  Super- 
natural." Deep  impressions  were  made  by  the  lectures, 
which  were  attended  by  from  1000  to  1500  persons. 

In  October,  1889,  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Scudder,  with  their 
son  and  daughter  and  son's  wife,  returned  to  the  United 
States  and  resided  for  about  a  year  in  Pasadena,  Cali- 
fornia. The  next  two  years  were  spent  in  Chicago, 

[241] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

from  which  place  he  removed  to  Winchester,  Massachu- 
setts, where  he  resided  till  the  time  of  his  death.  He 
died  of  apoplexy,  June  4,  1895.  He  had  been  in  infirm 
health  since  his  return  to  this  country  in  1889. 

The  editor  of  the  Missionary  Herald  says  of  him: 
"He  was  a  man  of  great  abilities,  of  fine  address,  and 
of  commanding  power  in  the  pulpit.  His  name  and 
memory  will  be  precious  in  all  our  American  churches 
as  well  as  in  many  mission  fields." 

His  son,  Dr.  Doremus  Scudder,  writes  as  follows  of 
his  father's  methods  and  characteristics :  "While  never 
a  slave  to  system,  my  father  was  exceedingly  methodical. 
From  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning  to  twelve  and  from 
half  past  one  until  three  or  four  in  the  afternoon,  noth- 
ing was  suffered  to  interrupt  his  work  in  his  study. 
He  carried  on  several  lines  of  reading  or  investigation 
side  by  side,  thus  relieving  mental  strain  and  giving 
zest  to  his  labors.  An  enthusiastic  lover  of  language, 
he  kept  up  Latin,  Greek,  Hebrew,  Tamil,  and  San- 
skrit almost  to  the  day  of  his  death.  More  than  once 
in  the  last  two  years  after  laying  aside  pastoral  work 
he  announced  that  his  days  of  Sanskrit  were  over,  nev- 
ertheless every  now  and  then  he  would  steal  back  to 
some  beloved  Hindu  classic.  While  able  to  read 
French  and  German  he  never  gave  much  attention  to 
them  and  was  not  proficient  in  either  language.  He 
loved  and  knew  his  Bible  in  the  original  better  than  any 
active  pastor  of  a  large  church  I  have  ever  met.  .  .  . 
Dr.  Scudder  was  master  in  dialectic.  It  is  one  of  the 
rarest  powers  granted  to  a  preacher  to  be  able  to  con- 
duct an  argument  skilfully,  honorably,  triumphantly, 
and  at  the  same  time  with  such  clarity  and  grace  as  to 
win  the  attention  of  men  of  the  street  while  delighting 
the  scholar.  My  father  had  this  rare  gift  in  wonderful 
measure.  He  had  whetted  his  sword  in  thousands  of  per- 
sonal combats  with  the  keenest  arguers  on  earth — the 

[242] 


Biographical  Sketches 

Brahmans  of  India.  His  sermons  were  all  points.  It 
was  impossible  for  him  to  speak  without  saying  some- 
thing. People  carried  away  food  for  thought  always/' 

Dr.  Scudder  received  the  degree  of  M.  D.  from  the 
University  of  New  York,  in  1853,  and  the  honorary  de- 
gree of  Doctor  of  Divinity  from  Rutgers  College  in 
1859.  He  was  a  corporate  member  of  the  American 
Board  from  1871.  On  April  4,  1903,  a  bronze  tablet 
in  his  memory  was  unveiled  in  the  Central  Congrega- 
tional Church,  Brooklyn,  New  York. 

He  was  married  April  18,  1844,  to  Miss  Fanny 
Lewis,  daughter  of  John  and  Fanny  (Smith)  Lewis, 
and  a  descendant  from  William  and  Amy  Lewis,  who 
came  from  Wales  to  Boston  in  1635.  Miss  Lewis  was 
not  only  sprung  from  an  old  and  honored  family  but 
was  a  lady  of  superior  culture  and  refinement  and  pos- 
sessed of  a  character  of  uncommon  sweetness.  Mrs. 
Scudder  survived  her  husband,  dying  in  Woburn,  Mas- 
sachusetts, November  30,  1900.  She  served  the  cause 
of  missions  in  India  for  twenty  years,  and  at  the  time 
of  her  death,  only  one  name, — that  of  Dr.  Elias  Riggs, 
— preceded  hers  in  the  list  of  living  appointees  of  the 
American  Board. 

Of  ten  children  born  to  them  two,  a  son  and  daugK- 
ter,  are  living:  Rev.  Dr.  Doremus  Scudder,  M.D.,  and 
Miss  Caroline  Scudder,  who,  in  1884,  gave  themselves 
to  missionary  work  in  Japan.  More  recently  Dr.  Do- 
remus Scudder  became  Secretary  of  the  Hawaiian 
Evangelical  Association,  and  is  now  pastor  of  the  Cen- 
tral Union  Church,  Honolulu. 

Dr.  Henry  Martyn  Scudder  published  many  inter- 
esting letters  from  time  to  time  in  the  Missionary  Her- 
ald. His  other  publications  include  "Liturgy  of  the 
Reformed  Presbyterian  Dutch  Church"  (Madras,  In- 
dia, 1862)  ;  "The  Bazaar  Book,  or  the  Vernacular 
Teachers'  Companion"  (1865) ;  "Sweet  Savors  of  Di- 

[243] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

vine  Truth,  a  Catechism"  (1868)  ;  and  "Spiritual 
Teaching"  (1870).  Besides  these,  which  are  in  the 
Tamil  language,  he  published  "Coming  to  Christ" 
(1859);  "Christ  our  Teacher"  (1868);  "The  Sense 
of  Scripture"  (1868)  ;  "Shall  we  drink  Wine?"  (1869)  ; 
"The  Catholics  and  Public  Schools"  (1873) ;  "Analysis 
of  the  Gospel  of  Mark"  (1881);  "God's  Heart  and 
Hand  in  Our  National  History"  (1885)  ;  "Christ's  Sec- 
ond Coming"  (1887);  "For  You"  (1890);  and  some 
Thanksgiving  sermons. 

ELIPHALET  WHITTLESEY,  son  of  Eliphalet  and 
Martha  (Strong)  Whittlesey,  was  born  in  Salisbury, 
Connecticut,  July  13,  1816.  He  fitted  for  college  in 
Lenox  Academy,  and  with  his  brother,  Charles,  en- 
tered Williams  in  1836.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Philo- 
technian  Society.  He  studied  theology  at  Union  The- 
ological Seminary,  where  he  was  graduated  in  1843. 
He  was  ordained  at  Salisbury,  on  September  27  of  the 
same  year,  and  on  the  4th  of  December  following,  em- 
barked from  Boston,  under  the  auspices  of  the  Ameri- 
can Board,  for  the  Sandwich  Islands,  being  one  of  the 
tenth  reinforcement  sent  to  that  field.  When  four  days 
out  of  Boston,  the  ship  encountered  a  severe  gale  and 
suffered  injuries  which  necessitated  her  being  laid  up 
for  repairs. 

He  arrived  at  Honolulu,  July  15,  1844,  and  was 
located  at  Hana,  on  the  island  of  Maui.  At  first  he 
was  associated  with  Mr.  Conde,  being  engaged  chiefly 
in  teaching,  but  in  1846  an  arrangement  was  made,  in 
accordance  with  which  he  took  charge  of  two  districts, 
Kipapula  and  Kaupo,  formerly  under  the  care  of  Mr. 
Conde.  Of  these  places  Mr.  Whittlesey  wrote: 
"They  form  a  very  pleasant  field,  containing  a  numer- 
ous population,  and  being  accessible  on  horseback. 
There  were  136  church  members,  in  regular  standing, 

[244] 


Biographical  Sketches 

who  were  set  off  as  a  separate  church  for  me."  In  this 
new  field  Mr.  Whittlesey  used  to  preach  every  Sab- 
bath, though  still  residing  at  Hana.  The  following 
extract  from  the  report  which  he  sent  to  the  Board  in 
1848  gives  some  idea  of  the  people  and  his  work:  "In 
making  this,  my  first  report,  I  can  only  state  things  as 
they  seem,  and  mention  what  has  been  done  during  a 
single  year,  without  instituting  any  comparison  be- 
tween it  and  former  years.  The  morals  of  the  people 
have  been  good,  so  far  as  I  have  been  made  acquainted 
with  them.  We  have  enjoyed  the  presence  of  the 
Spirit,  and  many  have  been  led  to  attend  to  the  interests 
of  their  souls,  some  having  been  admitted  to  the  visible 
church.  Others,  who  remain  apparently  unconcerned, 
have  doubtless  been  restrained  in  their  sinful  courses. 
The  judge  of  the  two  districts  told  me  that  he  thought 
there  were  fewer  criminals  than  in  former  years.  .  .  . 
In  regard  to  education,  I  may  say  that  the  effect  of  the 
changes  in  the  school  system  has  been  beneficial.  There 
appears  to  be  a  desire  on  the  part  of  the  parents,  as 
well  as  children,  to  obtain  books;  and  a  great  many 
books  have  been  sold,  some  making  payment  in  full. 
Several  globe  maps  have  been  purchased  for  the 
schools.  In  examinations  the  schools  appear  very  well, 
and  the  teachers  manifest  an  ambition  to  urge  on  their 
pupils  in  the  acquisition  of  knowledge." 

Mr.  Whittlesey's  term  of  service  in  the  Islands 
closed  in  1854,  when  he  returned  to  the  United  States. 
During  1854-55  and  again  1857-61  he  resided  at  Salis- 
bury, Connecticut,  without  charge.  He  acted  as  occa- 
sional supply  in  Saratoga,  New  York,  1855-57;  Ham- 
monton,  New  Jersey,  1861-65;  Elwood,  New  Jersey, 
1865-67;  Edina,  Missouri,  1867-69;  and  again  in  El- 
wood  from  1869  till  his  death.  He  died  of  marasmus 
at  Elwood,  September  1,  1889,  aged  73  years. 

He  married  November  16,  1843,  Elizabeth  Keene 

[245] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

Baldwin,  daughter  of  Rev.  Burr  and  Cornelia  (Keene) 
Baldwin  of  Newark,  New  Jersey,  and  formerly  of 
Montrose,  Pennsylvania.  She  was  educated  at  Mount 
Holyoke  Seminary.  She  survived  her  husband  and 
in  1900  was  residing  in  Hammonton,  New  Jersey. 
Theodore  Holden,  of  Elmwood,  New  Jersey,  was  an 
adopted  son. 

It  is  said  that  in  later  years  Mr.  Whittlesey  be- 
came a  believer  in  New  Church  doctrines  and  withdrew 
from  the  Congregational  Association.  "He  was  a 
man  of  gentleness  and  an  honored  citizen." 


CLASS  OF  1841 

JAMES  HERRICK,  son  of  Nathaniel  and  Lydia 
(Eastman)  Herrick,  was  born  March  19,  1814,  in 
Broome,  Canada,  where  his  parents  were  residing  tem- 
porarily, their  home  being  in  Dummerston,  Vermont. 
He  was  the  grandson  of  Jonathan  and  Mehetabel 
(French)  Herrick. 

The  family  is  an  ancient  one,  tradition  claiming 
its  descent  from  Eric  Ericke,  a  Danish  chief  who  in- 
vaded Britain  in  the  reign  of  Alfred.  The  emigrant 
ancestor  in  this  country  is  supposed  to  be  Henry,  son 
of  Sir  William  and  Joan  (May)  Herrick,  and  who 
was  born  at  Beau  Manor,  County  of  Leicester,  Eng- 
land, in  1604.  His  name  was  sometimes  written  Hen- 
erie  Hireck,  Hericke,  or  Herrick.  According  to  one 
account  he  settled  in  Salem,  and  according  to  another, 
in  Beverly,  Massachusetts.  In  a  recent  sketch  of  his 
life  it  is  stated  that  "Mr.  Herrick  and  his  wife  Editha 
were  among  the  thirty  who  founded  the  first  church  in 
Salem,  in  1639;  and  on  the  organization  of  the  new 
parish,  on  'Ryal-Syde,'  in  1667,  they  with  their  sons 
and  their  sons'  wives  were  among  the  founders  of  the 
first  church  in  Beverly,  also."  He  married  a  daughter 

[246] 


Biographical  Sketches 

of  Hugh  Larkin  of  Salem,  and  there  are  said  to  have 
been  born  to  them  twelve  sons  and  several  daughters. 
He  was  a  farmer  in  comfortable  circumstances,  but  not 
distinguished  by  civil  rank  or  influence  in  the  Colony. 
"He  was  a  very  good  and  honest  dissenter  from  the 
established  church  and  the  friend  of  Higginson,  who 
had  been  a  dissenting  minister  in  Leicester." 

Robert  Her  rick,  the  poet,  is  named  as  one  of  the 
more  distinguished  English  ancestors  of  the  American 
family. 

The  father  of  James  Herrick  was  a  farmer,  and 
the  son,  besides  having  the  good  fortune  of  being  reared 
on  a  farm,  was  blessed  with  the  influences  of  a  God- 
fearing, Christian  mother.  He  received  the  beginning 
of  his  education  in  West  Brattleboro,  Vermont,  to  which 
place  the  family  removed  after  the  temporary  residence 
in  Canada.  His  later  childhood  was  spent  in  New- 
fane  and  West  Dummerston.  He  prepared  for  col- 
lege at  the  academy  in  West  Brattleboro,  some  of  the 
time  boarding  two  miles  away.  He  paid  his  way  in  the 
academy  by  teaching  a  district  school.  Rev.  Mr. 
Grout,  who  knew  him  well,  wrote  of  him:  "He  was 
eminently  diligent,  faithful,  successful  in  all  his  stud- 
ies, and  was  noted  for  his  regular,  punctual  attendance 
upon  every  recitation  and  other  engagement  or  duty.*' 
While  he  was  in  the  academy,  at  the  age  of  twenty,  he 
united  with  the  Congregational  church,  on  confession 
of  his  faith.  He  entered  college  in  1837,  coming  over 
the  mountain  from  Windham  County,  Vermont,  by  pri- 
vate conveyance,  to  be  examined  for  admission.  This 
was  the  second  year  of  President  Mark  Hopkins'  ad- 
ministration. The  college  then  had  but  six  professors, 
about  150  students,  and  only  four  buildings.  To  save 
money,  young  Herrick  used  to  walk  to  college  and  back 
from  his  home  in  Dummerston,  between  terms,  and  to 
earn  money  used  to  teach  a  part  of  the  winters  and  work 

[247] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

on  the  farm  summers.  In  College  he  was  a  member  of 
the  Philotechnian  Society  and  of  the  Mills  Theological 
Society.  He  was  one  of  the  speakers  at  the  Com- 
mencement, August  18,  1841,  the  subject  of  his  oration 
being  "National  Recognition  of  the  Divine  Sovereignty 
necessary  to  National  Prosperity."  After  gradua- 
tion, he  taught  for  a  year  in  the  academy  at  West 
Brattleboro.  He  studied  theology  at  Andover  Sem- 
inary, at  which  he  was  graduated  in  1845,  and  was 
ordained  October  8  of  the  same  year.  In  his  course  of 
study  at  the  seminary  he  had  steadily  looked  forward 
to  foreign  mission  work,  to  which  he  had  consecrated 
himself. 

On  November  12  of  the  same  year  he,  with  his  young 
wife,  sailed  from  Boston  for  India  as  a  missionary  of 
the  American  Board,  arriving  at  Madura,  April  30, 
1846.  He  was  at  first  stationed  at  Tirumangalam, 
twelve  miles  southwest  of  Madura,  and  here,  with  the 
exception  of  four  years  at  Pasumalai  and  two  years  in 
this  country,  he  and  his  wife  were  devoted  missionaries 
for  nearly  forty  years.  The  station  had  been  for 
about  a  year  under  the  care  of  Rev.  William  Tracy, 
who  was  for  a  time  a  member  of  the  class  of  1833  at 
this  college,  and  who  subsequently  received  here  his 
honorary  degree.  Whether  the  ties  of  college  kinship 
prepared  the  way  or  not,  the  new  laborers  began  their 
work  under  most  favorable  auspices.  "The  reception 
we  met  on  our  first  arrival,"  writes  Mr.  Herrick,  "was 
very  gratifying.  The  members  of  the  boarding-school, 
from  thirty-five  to  forty  in  number,  met  us  at  our  door, 
telling  us  that  since  the  removal  of  Dr.  Tracy  they  had 
been  orphans,  and  requested  that  we  should  be  parents 
to  them.  Several  persons  soon  came  in  from  the  vil- 
lage to  make  their  "salam"  and  request  our  kindness. 
I  might  here  mention  that  the  boys  of  the  boarding- 
school  have  uniformly  shown  us  the  respect  due  to 

[248] 


Biographical  Sketches 

parents,  and  that  they  place,  apparently,  much  more 
confidence  in  their  adopted  than  in  their  natural  par- 
ents; a  circumstance  which  renders  these  schools  of  im- 
mense importance."  This  kindly  welcome  was  an  omen 
of  good  success  which  was  apparent  from  the  first,  and 
which  was  constant  during  the  long  period  of  service  of 
these  missionaries.  Mr.  Herrick  laid  great  emphasis 
upon  preaching  the  Word,  but  with  this  he  combined 
unwearied  efforts  with  individuals.  One  of  his  aims, 
also,  was  to  encourage  giving  among  the  native  Chris- 
tians and  the  establishment  of  self-supporting  churches. 
It  is  said  that  the  first  village  church  that  was  regularly 
organized  in  the  Madura  Mission  was  formed  in  his 
field,  and  the  first  village  pastor  was  ordained  there. 
He  was  fond  of  itinerating  and  did  faithful  work  in  all 
parts  of  the  district  coming  under  his  care.  In  one  of 
his  tours  he  writes  of  visiting  145  villages,  and  again 
he  visits  140  villages.  In  these  tours  he  sometimes  took 
with  him  a  tent  in  which  he  could  gather  his  congrega- 
tions. Frequent  topics  in  his  letters  are  revivals,  bap- 
tisms, accessions  to  the  church,  new  buildings.  In 
April,  1871,  he  writes  of  the  progress  made  in  a 
quarter  of  a  century.  "When  I  took  charge  of  the 
station,  in  May,  1846,"  he  writes,  "there  were  but  ten 
or  twelve  church  members  there;  and  all  but  two  of 
them  were  helpers,  introduced  from  other  missions,  and 
members  of  their  families.  Now  there  are  150  church 
members  in  good  standing,  connected  with  two  churches, 
one  of  which  is  under  the  care  of  a  native  pastor, 
who  derives  more  than  half  of  his  support  from  the 
members  of  his  church  and  congregation.  Then  there 
was  but  a  single  congregation  of  Christians  in  the  vil- 
lages, and  this  was  subsequently  transferred  to  another 
mission.  Now  there  are  more  than  twenty  congrega- 
tions, composed  of  persons  living  in  forty  different  vil- 
lages, and  containing  in  all  nearly  1000  members.  Then, 

[249] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

all  the  schools,  except  the  boarding-school,  were  taught 
by  heathen  masters,  there  being  no  others  available. 
Now,  all  the  teachers  employed  are  Christians,  nomi- 
nally, and  all  but  one  church  members.  Seventeen  men, 
now  employed  as  helpers  at  this  station,  and  three  em- 
ployed elsewhere,  are  natives  of  this  station  district,  and 
have  all  been  introduced  into  service  during  the  period 
under  review.  Thirteen  girls  sent  from  here  to  the  fe- 
male boarding-school  in  Madura  within  this  time  are 
now  wives  of  men  who  have  been,  and  all  but  one  or  two 
of  whom  are  now  employed  as  mission  helpers.  Two 
are  the  wives  of  pastors." 

And  this  progress  continued.  When,  twelve  years 
later,  he  finally  withdrew  from  active  service,  he  again 
gave  a  review  of  what  he  had  seen  accomplished,  show- 
ing that  while  in  1845  there  was  probably  one  church  in 
each  of  the  seven  stations,  in  1882  the  number  of 
churches  was  thirty-four  and  the  number  of  church 
members  2886;  and  that  while  in  1845  the  number  of 
"Christian  villages"  or  "village  congregations"  was 
forty-four,  and  of  people  in  them  1081,  in  1882  the 
congregations  had  increased  to  255  with  a  membership 
of  11,629,  living  in  373  different  villages. 

The  success  which  attended  his  labors  during  the 
four  years  when  he  was  in  charge  of  the  seminary  at 
Pasumalai  shows  what  he  might  have  accomplished  had 
he  devoted  his  life  exclusively  to  educational  affairs. 

In  1883,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Herrick  again  visited  the 
United  States,  not  to  return  again  to  their  mission.  It 
was  a  great  sorrow  to  Mr.  Herrick  that  he  was  pre- 
vented by  physical  infirmities  from  spending  his  last 
years  in  the  work  to  which  he  had  been  devoted,  and 
among  the  people  whom  he  loved  and  who  loved  him. 
He  spent  these  last  .years  at  Brattleboro,  Vermont, 
which  had  been  the  home  of  his  youth.  And  these  last 
years  were  filled  with  useful  work.  He  was  faithful  in 

[250] 


Biographical  Sketches 

his  attendance  upon  the  various  services  of  the  Sabbath 
and  aided  in  these  services  as  he  had  opportunity. 
Through  the  week  he  did  much  pastoral  work,  visiting 
the  sick,  the  aged,  desolate,  and  the  afflicted.  He  corre- 
sponded with  Christian  workers,  and  gave  wise  counsel 
for  the  welfare  of  the  church  and  community,  in  which 
he  lived  a  holy  and  exemplary  life.  "One  would  search 
far  to  find  a  better  illustration  among  men  of  what  it 
is  to  follow  the  Lord  with  singleness  of  heart  in  all 
Christian  life." 

In  the  summer  before  his  death  he  enjoyed  the  rare 
privilege  of  attending  the  fiftieth  anniversary  meeting 
of  his  class,  when  there  were  present  five  of  the  ten  liv- 
ing members  of  a  class  of  thirty-two.  He  had  acted  as 
Class  Secretary  in  gathering  these  few  classmates,  and 
on  his  return  to  his  home  he  wrote  the  Secretary  of  the 
Alumni  an  account  of  his  impressions  under  the  title  of 
"Then  and  Now,"  recounting  some  of  the  more  impor- 
tant changes  that  had  occurred  in  the  college  in  the  half- 
century  gone. 

He  died  of  heart  disease  in  West  Brattleboro,  No- 
vember 30,  1891. 

Prominent  among  the  fine  qualities  of  Mr.  Her- 
rick's  character  were  a  nice  sense  of  justice,  a  conscien- 
tiousness that  extended  to  little  things,  and  a  gentleness 
that  showed  itself  in  speech  and  manner.  He  ever  tried 
to  follow  the  Old  Testament  requirement  to  do  justly, 
to  love  mercy,  to  walk  humbly  with  God.  The  distin- 
guishing features  of  his  character  were  Christian  faith, 
love,  sincerity,  and  fidelity. 

The  Rev.  John  E.  Chandler,  who  went  to  India  the 
year  after  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Herrick  did,  and  who  was  inti- 
mately associated  with  them  in  the  Madura  Mission, 
writes  as  follows  of  his  associate  and  friend:  "It  was 
my  privilege  to  labor  side  by  side  in  the  same  mission 
field  for  more  than  thirty  years,  and  when  declining 

[251] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

health  compelled  him  to  give  up  the  work  and  remain 
in  this  country  his  loss  was  deeply  regretted  by  all  his 
associates,  as  well  as  by  the  natives  who  knew  him.  He 
was  held  in  high  esteem  by  a  large  circle  of  acquaint- 
ances. He  was  a  man  eminent  for  his  piety  and  godli- 
ness, a  man  of  prayer.  I  remember  how  impressively 
he  said  in  one  of  the  last  prayer  meetings  at  which  he 
was  present:  'I  sometimes,  dear  brethren,  fear  that  we 
do  not  spend  time  enough  in  our  private  devotions  and 
in  reading  our  Bibles/  He  loved  to  pray  and  always 
evinced  the  greatest  sincerity,  living  as  he  prayed.  He 
was  an  affectionate,  loving  friend.  The  warm  grasp  of 
his  hand  indicated  the  feeling  of  his  heart." 

Mr.  Herrick  married  in  West  Brattleboro,  Ver- 
mont, November  2,  1845,  Miss  Elizabeth  Hopkins 
Crosby,  daughter  of  Thomas  and  Catherine  (Burt) 
Crosby,  and  a  descendant  of  William  Brewster,  who 
came  from  England  to  this  country  on  the  May flower. 

Of  the  ten  children  born  to  them,  five  are  living: 
Mrs.  Mary  E.  Dunklee,  Brattleboro,  Vermont;  Rev. 
William  H.  Herrick,  missionary  under  the  Presbyte- 
rian Board  of  Publication  and  Sunday-school  Work, 
Green  River,  Utah;  Mrs.  Emily  H.  Martin,  Lexing- 
ton, Massachusetts;  Joseph  T.  Herrick,  M.D.,  Univer- 
sity Medical  School,  New  York  City;  Rev.  David 
Scudder  Herrick  (Williams  1885),  missionary  in  Ma- 
dura, Southern  India.  Another  son,  who  died  in  1893, 
James  Frederick  Herrick,  was  graduated  here  in  1875, 
was  for  several  years  on  the  staff  of  the  Springfield  Re- 
publican, and  was  later  connected  with  the  New  York 
World.  A  son  of  this  son  bearing  the  name  of  his 
father  is  a  member  of  the  class  of  1914  in  Williams 
College. 

Mrs.  James  Herrick  died  in  West  Brattleboro,  Sep- 
tember 23,  1900. 

[252] 


Biographical  Sketches 

CLASS  OF  1842 

HENRY  ALEXANDER  FORD,  son  of  Rev.  Henry  Ford 
of  Lisle,  New  York,  was  born  May  4,  1818.  He  en- 
tered college  as  a  Sophomore  in  1839,  having  among  his 
classmates  Addison  Ballard,  Horace  Lyman,  D wight 
Whitney  Marsh,  and  Edward  Taylor.  A  brother, 
Jonathan  Ford,  was  graduated  here  in  1839.  After 
graduation,  he  taught  for  four  or  five  years  in  Hud- 
son, New  York,  and  then  studied  medicine  in  New 
York  City,  with  the  view  of  becoming  a  medical 
missionary. 

On  June  20,  1850,  he  sailed  from  New  York,  under 
the  appointment  of  the  American  Board,  to  join  the 
mission  at  Gaboon,  in  West  Africa,  arriving  there 
October  7.  Rev.  Dr.  Addison  Ballard,  Dr.  Ford's  sole 
surviving  classmate,  writes:  "It  sufficiently  attests  his 
genuine  martyr  heroism  that  he  went  as  missionary 
to  the  Gaboon,  of  which  it  used  to  be  said  that 
for  every  native  convert  there  was  to  be  seen 
the  grave  of  a  missionary."  Dr.  Ford's  first 
letter  from  his  field  naturally  had  reference  to 
the  climate,  of  which  he  writes:  "1.  Here  we 
have  a  rainy  season  of  about  seven  months,  including  a 
month  called  'the  middle  dries/  when  the  showers  are 
less  frequent.  This  is  also  our  warm  season,  the  ther- 
mometer ranging  from  seventy-two  to  eighty-eight  de- 
grees of  Fahrenheit.  But  on  the  north  coast,  the  rainy 
season  is  the  cold  season;  and  on  this  account  it  is 
thought  by  immigrants  to  be  less  healthful.  2.  Our 
rains  are  generally  in  the  night,  so  that  one  is  in  but  lit- 
tle danger  of  getting  wet  in  the  daytime.  On  other 
parts  of  the  coast,  however,  the  days  and  nights  are 
alike  wet. 

"3.  At  the  close  of  our  rainy  season,  the  sky  be- 
comes overcast  with  clouds,  and  the  thermometer  falls 
from  seven  to  ten  degrees;  a  change  which  would  be 

[253] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

hardly  perceptible  in  the  United  States,  but  which  is 
very  apparent  to  the  keener  susceptibilities  of  a  resident 
in  Africa.  By  this  means  the  disastrous  effects  of  a 
burning  sun,  operating  upon  the  luxuriant  vegetation 
of  the  rainy  season,  are  entirely  obviated.  Thus  we  are 
rid  of  the  season  that  is  thought  to  be  most  dangerous 
to  health  in  hot  climates.  The  experience  of  whites  on 
the  Gaboon  proves  that  this  transition  period  is  as 
healthful  as  any  in  the  year."  This  first  impression 
about  the  f avorableness  of  the  climate,  however,  had  to 
be  modified  by  larger  experience. 

Dr.  Ford  was  stationed  as  physician  at  Baraka, 
where  John  Leighton  Wilson  was  missionary.  At  a 
neighboring  station  of  the  Gaboon,  at  the  same  time, 
was  Jacob  Best  (Williams  1844) ,  who  had  been  for  two 
years  a  college  mate  of  Dr.  Ford. 

Dr.  Ford's  time  was  not  devoted  entirely  to  the 
practice  of  medicine;  he  held  a  Sunday-school,  and  also 
had  superintendence  of  a  boarding  day  school  for  boys, 
containing  on  an  average  about  thirty-five  scholars, 
many  of  whom  manifested  a  strong  desire  for  improve- 
ment and  made  good  progress  in  study. 

In  1855  Dr.  Ford  visited  this  country  on  account  of 
his  wife's  health.  While  here  he  attended  a  special 
meeting  of  the  Board  at  Albany,  New  York,  March  4, 
1856.  The  following  summer  he  sailed  from  Stoning- 
ton,  Connecticut,  to  join  his  missionary  brethren  in 
West  Africa,  Mrs.  Ford  intending  to  remain  for  a  time 
in  this  country.  He  labored  with  great  fidelity  for  some- 
thing over  a  year,  till  the  time  of  his  death  from  fever,  at 
Baraka,  February  2,  1858.  His  death  was  the  more 
startling  because  he  was  a  strong  man  and  had  gener- 
ally enjoyed  good  health.  He  was  constant  in  his  at- 
tendance upon  the  sick,  by  day  and  by  night,  and  seldom 
spoke  of  himself  as  being  unwell.  But  a  few  days  before 
his  death  he  had  been  complimented  by  a  physician  on 

[254] 


Biographical  Sketches 

his  enjoyment  of  so  good  health  in  Africa.  Mr.  Pierce, 
who  gave  an  account  of  his  death,  wrote:  "Yet  he  was 
probably,  at  times,  unwell,  and  ought  to  have  taken  his 
bed,  when,  instead,  he  would  take  quinine  and  keep 
about  his  work.  He  was  made  of  energy  and  resolution, 
did  what  he  found  to  do  with  all  his  might,  and  labored 
incessantly.  He  did  too  much  and  felt,  on  his  dying  bed, 
that  he  had  not  taken  such  care  of  himself  as  was  really 
needful." 

There  was  a  large  attendance  at  his  funeral,  Mr. 
Walker  speaking  in  Mpongwe  and  Mr.  Best,  his  col- 
lege mate,  in  English. 

Dr.  Ford  married  in  1855  Miss  Olivia  Smith  of  Os- 
wego,  New  York,  who  embarked  unmarried  from  New 
York,  November  30,  1853,  and  arrived  at  Gaboon  Feb- 
ruary 16,  1854.  She  survived  her  husband. 

DWIGHT  WHITNEY  MARSH,  son  of  Henry  and  Sa- 
rah (Whitney)  Marsh,  was  born  in  Dalton,  Massachu- 
setts, November  5,  1823.  His  grandparents  on  his 
father's  side  were  Henry  and  Betsey  (Lawrence) 
Marsh,  and  on  his  mother's  side,  Abel  and  Elizabeth 
(D wight)  Whitney. 

The  family,  which  is  an  illustrious  one,  traces  its 
descent  from  John  Marsh,  who  came  from  England  to 
America  in  1636  and  settled  in  Hartford,  Connecticut. 
Among  the  noted  descendants  of  John  Marsh  may  be 
mentioned  Joseph  Marsh,  a  Colonel  in  the  Revolution- 
ary War  and  the  first  Lieutenant- Governor  of  Ver- 
mont; Colonel  Ebenezer  Marsh,  who  led  a  Connecticut 
regiment  to  Ticonderoga,  one  of  whose  great-grandsons 
was  Governor  Horatio  Seymour  of  New  York;  Doc- 
tors Jonathan  and  Perez  Marsh,  who  were  surgeons 
in  the  French  War  of  1755;  and  Hon.  George  P. 
Marsh,  Minister  to  Constantinople  and  to  Italy. 
Henry  Marsh,  who  was  graduated  here  in  1815,  and 

[255] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

obtained  distinction  as  a  lawyer,  manufacturer,  and 
merchant,  was  of  this  family. 

The  good  old  Puritan  stock  from  which  Dwight 
Whitney  Marsh  was  descended  was  eminent  in  other 
lines  of  descent  also  and  included  such  names  as  Ed- 
wards, Stoddard,  Lawrence,  Williams,  and  Dwight. 
His  mother  was  a  sister  of  Josiah  Dwight  Whitney,  and 
thus  he  was  first  cousin  to  Josiah  Dwight  Whitney,  Jr., 
and  William  Dwight  Whitney  (Williams  1845). 

His  father,  Henry  Marsh,  who  was  a  farmer  and 
manufacturer,  is  spoken  of  as  an  eloquent  speaker,  and 
an  enthusiastic,  active  Christian.  The  boy  was  sent 
from  home  to  school  at  an  early  age,  first  to  the  Berk- 
shire Gymnasium  at  Pittsfield,  which  was  under  the 
charge  of  Dr.  Chester  Dewey  (Williams  1806),  who 
had  been  an  eminent  professor  of  mathematics  for  some 
years  in  his  Alma  Mater.  He  next  studied  at  Lenox 
Academy,  and  later,  for  a  short  time,  at  Hopkins  Acad- 
emy, in  Hadley,  Massachusetts,  the  principal  of  which 
was  Rev.  Dan  Huntington  (Yale  1794),  who  had  been 
a  tutor  both  at  Williams  and  at  Yale,  and  had  received 
an  honorary  degree  from  Williams  in  1798.  Marsh 
entered  college  as  a  Freshman,  in  1838,  and  though  at 
that  time  he  was  under  fifteen  years  of  age,  he  soon 
took  good  rank  as  a  scholar,  being  particularly  fond  of 
natural  history.  With  his  cousin,  William  Dwight 
Whitney,  who  was  for  a  time  his  college  mate,  he  made 
many  excursions  in  field  and  wood,  in  search  for  speci- 
mens with  which  to  enrich  the  college  collection.  One 
who  knew  him  well  describes  him  as  he  was  in  his  college 
days,  as  "a  tall,  slender,  bright-eyed,  and  bright-looking 
young  man."  Rev.  Dr.  Ballard,  one  of  his  classmates 
to  attain  distinction,  and  now  the  only  surviving  mem- 
ber of  his  class,  writes  these  words  of  reminiscence:  "I 
think  of  Marsh  as  one  of  the  most  amiable  and  trans- 
parently sincere  men  of  my  class.  .  .  .  He  was  es- 

[256] 


Biographical  Sketches 

teemed  for  his  character  as  a  companion,  a  friend,  and 
a  devoted  Christian."  He  was  a  member  of  the  Philo- 
logian  Society.  He  was  one  of  the  speakers  at  the 
Junior  Exhibition,  his  subject  being,  "American  Scen- 
ery." He  also  delivered  an  oration  at  Commencement 
on  the  subject,  "Psyche." 

On  graduation,  he  was  urged  by  his  father  to  study 
law,  but  his  early  conversion  and  the  religious  influences 
of  the  college  turned  him  to  the  ministry.  In  1842  he 
entered  Andover  Theological  Seminary,  but  his  course 
here  was  interrupted,  after  a  year,  by  financial  reverses 
which  caused  the  removal  of  the  family  to  the  West. 
After  teaching  four  years  at  St.  Louis,  he  completed  his 
course  in  theology  at  Union  Seminary,  from  which  he 
was  graduated  in  1849.  It  was  while  a  member  of  the 
seminary,  where  there  were  twenty-six  of  his  fellows 
who  were  expecting  to  become  foreign  missionaries,  that 
he  came  to  a  decision  to  be  a  missionary  to  the  heathen. 
Being  accepted  by  the  American  Board  in  1849,  he  was 
ordained  in  Dalton,  Massachusetts,  on  October  2  of  that 
year,  by  the  Berkshire  Association,  in  the  church  where 
he  was  baptized  and  of  which  he  was  a  member.  On 
December  7,  he  sailed  from  Boston  for  Mosul,  Turkey, 
where  he  arrived  March  29,  1850,  going  by  the  way  of 
Diarbekir,  from  which  place  he  floated  down  the  Tigris 
to  his  new  home,  on  a  raft  supported  by  inflated  goat- 
skins. He  enjoyed  to  the  full  the  beauties  of  the  scen- 
ery and  any  places  of  historic  interest  through  which 
he  passed,  and  wrote  of  these  things  in  a  vivid  and  inter- 
esting way.  The  following  extract  from  a  letter  writ- 
ten February  25,  1851,  gives  some  idea  of  the  field  he 
was  called  to  occupy:  "This  field  I  regard  as  extending 
from  Mardin  to  Bagdad.  There  are  two  nations  to  be 
wrought  upon,  the  Syrian  and  Chaldean.  The  Syrians 
are  in  part  Jacobites,  while  some  of  them  have  left  the 
Jacobite  Church  for  popery.  The  Chaldeans,  in  like 

[257] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

manner,  are  partly  Nestorians,  or  Protestant  Chal- 
deans, and  partly  papists  or  Chaldeans,  so  called. 
There  are  four  sects,  therefore,  Nestorians,  Chaldeans, 
Jacobites,  and  Syrians.  In  both  instances  the  crafty 
papists  have  seized  upon  the  national  name,  and  left  the 
name  of  a  sect  to  their  adversaries ! 

"I  am  more  and  more  convinced  of  the  importance 
of  Mosul  as  a  missionary  post." 

For  a  year  he  was  the  only  missionary  at  Mosul. 
The  year  1851  was  made  memorable  by  the  visit  to 
Mosul  of  Rev.  Dr.  Leonard  Bacon  and  his  son,  whom 
Mr.  Marsh  accompanied  through  the  mountains  of 
Kurdistan  on  a  journey  to  Persia.  The  story  of  the 
party's  being  detained  in  a  Kurdish  castle,  and  being 
not  only  robbed  but  threatened  with  death  by  an  armed 
band,  is  described  in  the  Missionary  Herald  for  1851, 
and  forms  one  of  the  most  thrilling  incidents  in  the  an- 
nals of  missionary  life. 

In  1852  Mr.  Marsh  returned  to  America,  where  he 
delivered  many  missionary  addresses,  and  on  October 
19,  1852,  was  married  in  New  York  to  Julia  White 
Peck,  daughter  of  Elisha  and  Mary  Jane  (Averill) 
Peck,  of  Hartford  and  New  York.  On  January  7, 
1853,  they  sailed  for  Turkey  and  arrived  at  Mosul 
the  9th  of  May  following.  The  following  extract  from 
a  letter  describes  the  mode  of  travel  on  the  Tigris: 
"We  had  two  rafts,  of  sixty- four  inflated  goat  skins 
each,  about  twenty  feet  long  and  ten  wide.  On  our 
raft  we  had  a  little  house,  about  ten  feet  long,  eight 
wide  and  seven  high,  so  admirably  arranged  with  cur- 
tains to  shut  off  the  rain,  sun  or  wind,  and  to  admit 
pleasant  breezes,  if  we  wished,  that  together  with  our  cot 
bedsteads  and  trunks,  and  with  travelling  cooking  fur- 
niture on  the  raft  of.  our  servants,  we  came  down  more 
comfortably  than  we  should  have  been  on  many  a 
crowded  Hudson  River  steamer.  Sometimes  the  waves 

[258] 


Biographical  Sketches 

and  whirls  boiled  all  around  us  in  the  rapids,  and  at 
times  the  mighty  eddies  held  us  irresistibly;  but  though 
once  or  twice  the  waves  dashed  upon  our  feet,  our  sixty- 
four  life-preservers,  and  the  better  care  of  God,  would 
not  let  us  sink.  We  had  the  invaluable  aid  of  Khuther, 
the  servant  who  was  so  long  with  Dr.  Bacon  and  his 
son,  and  who  was  with  us  when  we  were  robbed."  With 
still  greater  vividness,  perhaps,  does  he  describe  the 
wild  scenery  through  which  he  passed  on  the  journey  he 
made  to  Urumia,  in  1850,  now  and  then  contrasting 
what  he  saw  with  "the  grand  scenery  of  the  Catskill  and 
the  Green  Mountains,"  and,  at  times,  reminded  of  the 
valleys  of  his  native  Berkshire  and  of  his  "later  home 
beyond  the  lakes  and  prairies." 

In  Mosul  were  spent  seven  years  in  earnest  work 
for  the  people  of  that  city  and  the  surrounding  districts. 
An  experience  of  no  ordinary  interest  in  these  years 
was  Mr.  Marsh's  acquaintance  with  Layard  and  his  as- 
sistants, who  were  then  carrying  on  their  excavations 
at  Nimroud,  not  many  miles  from  Mosul.  It  was  about 
this  time  that  Mr.  Marsh  sent  to  his  Alma  Mater  some 
Nineveh  slabs  which  Layard  had  courteously  given  him, 
believed  to  be  the  first  specimens  of  this  sort  to  be  sent 
to  any  American  college. 

In  May,  1859,  the  home  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Marsh  was 
saddened  by  the  death  of  their  second  and  only  sur- 
viving child,  and  on  the  12th  of  August  following,  Mrs. 
Marsh  died  of  fever,  at  the  age  of  32.  She  is  de- 
scribed as  a  noble  and  lovely  character,  and  as  an 
earnest  and  faithful  laborer.  While  Mosul  was  re- 
garded as  free  from  malaria,  the  summer  heat  was  par- 
ticularly exhausting  to  foreigners.  It  is  related  that 
for  eighty  days  in  one  year  the  thermometer  ranged 
from  100°  to  114°,  and  during  one  of  the  days  of  Mrs. 
Marsh's  illness  the  thermometer  recorded  120°.  The 
mother  and  only  sister  of  Mrs.  Marsh  died  under  the 

[259] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

age  of  thirty,  and  it  may  be  Mrs.  Marsh  might  have 
lived  no  longer  in  her  native  land.  But  her  husband,  in 
giving  an  account  of  her  death,  wrote,  "Yet  it  is  prob- 
able the  heat,  so  unusually  extreme,  cutting  the  leaves 
from  the  tree  in  our  court  by  thousands,  and  causing 
many  natives  of  the  country  to  fall  dead  by  the  road- 
side, was  the  immediate  occasion  of  her  death." 

In  1860  Mr.  Marsh  returned  to  America,  fully  in- 
tending to  go  back  after  a  while  to  spend  the  rest  of  his 
life  in  work  for  the  people  of  Turkey.  Circumstances 
connected  with  his  father's  family,  however,  made  it 
seem  his  duty  to  remain  here,  though  he  was  devoted 
to  the  mission  work,  and  was  greatly  beloved  by  the 
people.  On  resigning  his  connection  with  the  Board, 
he  wrote  Dr.  Anderson,  "It  is  hard  for  me  to  give  up 
my  hopes  of  usefulness  as  a  missionary,  but  I  shall 
never  forget  the  oriental  churches  and  Moslems." 

He  now  supplied,  for  a  year,  the  Congregational 
Church  in  Hinsdale,  Massachusetts,  near  to  the  town  of 
his  birthplace,  after  which  he  spent  five  years  in  teach- 
ing in  a  young  ladies'  seminary  in  Rochester,  New 
York,  at  the  same  time  preaching  frequently  in  the  dif- 
ferent churches  of  the  city  and  in  neighboring  towns. 
Though  highly  successful  as  a  teacher,  he  felt  that 
preaching  ought  to  be  his  life  work.  After  being  the 
pastor  of  a  church  for  a  year  in  Godfrey,  Illinois,  and 
spending  another  year  in  teaching  in  Rochester,  he  be- 
came pastor  at  Whitney's  Point,  New  York,  1869-71, 
and  Owego,  New  York,  for  five  years,  1871-76.  In  this 
latter  year  he  removed  to  Amherst,  Massachusetts, 
where  he  was  in  the  midst  of  a  large  circle  of  friends, 
and  where,  for  two  years  and  a  half,  he  was  pastor  of 
the  North  Church.  After  a  pastorate  of  about  four 
years  at  Haydenville,  Massachusetts,  he  returned  in 
1882  to  Amherst,  which  he  made  his  home  till  his  death, 
which  occurred  June  18,  1896. 

[260] 


Biographical  Sketches 

Dr.  Marsh's  life  was  a  busy  one.  Even  during  the 
years  of  retirement  he  was  busy,  preaching  occasionally, 
writing  often  for  the  daily  press,  preparing  papers  and 
reports  for  the  Ministerial  Association  of  the  county, 
the  fortnightly  ministers'  meeting,  and  the  Roundabout 
Club  of  Amherst,  or  engaged  in  other  forms  of  literary 
work.  He  was  a  scholar  of  wide  research,  one  of  his 
favorite  studies  being  that  of  philosophy.  For  many 
years  he  was  a  member  of  the  American  Oriental  So- 
ciety. His  Alma  Mater  recognized  his  attainments  in 
bestowing  upon  him  in  1875  the  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Divinity.  Dr.  Marsh  had  a  large  capacity  for  friend- 
ship, and  was  always  a  charming  companion.  He  had 
a  keen  sense  of  humor,  and,  because  his  heart  was  ever 
young,  he  was  a  favorite  with  children  and  young  peo- 
ple. But  it  was  in  his  home  life  where  were  revealed 
to  their  fullest  extent  the  beauty  of  his  character  and 
the  charm  of  his  disposition.  He  always  retained  a 
strong  attachment  for  his  college  and  often  spoke  of  his 
obligations  to  Mark  and  Albert  Hopkins,  who  in  his 
college  years  were  just  entering  upon  their  career  of 
wide  influence. 

At  the  Commencement  in  1892  he  met  with  the 
other  six  surviving  members  of  his  class  for  their  fifty- 
year  jubilee,  and  was  again  present  at  the  Centennial 
Celebration  of  the  college  in  1893. 

His  death  called  forth  abundant  and  worthy  trib- 
utes from  classmates  and  other  friends.  The  first  three 
of  the  following  extracts  are  from  tributes  of  class- 
mates. Rev.  Dr.  Edward  Taylor  wrote:  "Dr.  Marsh 
had  versatility  of  talent.  No  matter  what  was  the  mat- 
ter in  hand,  he  met  it  fully,  not  only  doing  his  own  work 
well,  but  inspiring  the  rest  of  us  to  do  our  work  well. 
He  was  broad  in  the  brain  and  broad  in  the  heart,  and 
his  sermons  satisfied  the  intellect  and  warmed  the  heart. 
His  diction  was  refined,  classic,  pure,  and  simple." 

[261] 


TWilliams  College  and  Missions 

William  Henry  Edwards  wrote:  "D wight  and  I  were 
close  friends  in  college.  We  both  became  interested  at 
the  same  time  in  collecting  birds,  and  in  mounting  them, 
taking  our  first  lessons  from  Professor  Albert  Hop- 
kins; and  as  we  both  had  the  naturalist's  temperament, 
we  experienced  ever-increasing  satisfaction  and  delight 
as  the  months  went  on.  ...  So  it  was  that  Dwight  and 
I  saw  much  of  each  other.  He  was  always  amiable  and 
lovable.  I  never  saw  or  heard  anything  from  him  that 
was  not  good  and  lovely.  In  thought,  word,  and  deed 
he  was  as  perfect  as  mortal  may  be."  The  following  is 
from  Rev.  Dr.  Addison  Ballard:  "The  things  about  him 
which,  at  this  distance  of  time,  stand  out  clearly  before 
me  are  his  youthfulness,  his  playfulness  joined  with 
manly  earnestness,  his  genial  and  affectionate  disposi- 
tion, his  freedom  from  the  narrowness  of  any  merely 
personal  ambition,  and  the  transparent  simplicity,  sin- 
cerity, and  genuineness  of  his  character  as  a  student,  a 
friend,  and  a  Christian." 

Rev.  Dr.  Henry  M.  Field,  who  was  graduated  the 
year  young  Marsh  entered  college,  but  who  knew  him 
intimately  when  both  lived  in  St.  Louis,  wrote:  "I  can 
see  him  now  as  he  looked  when  he  first  came  to  bring  me 
a  letter  of  introduction.  I  took  to  him  at  once;  it  was 
love  at  first  sight.  He  was  as  modest  as  a  young  girl. 
It  was  easy  to  see  that  he  had  come  out  of  one  of  the  best 
New  England  homes.  He  was  just  the  companion  I 
needed.  From  that  time  we  were  almost  daily  together, 
we  had  so  many  things  in  common,  such  as  the  associa- 
tion of  college  life, — from  which  he  had  come  unspoiled, 
free  from  the  petty  conceit  and  vanity  that  crop  out 
in  many  a  young  student  in  an  air  of  self -importance 
and  of  knowing  everything.  We  were  but  too  con- 
scious of  our  own  ignorance,  and  when  we  turned  from 
the  past  to  the  future,  and  talked  of  what  we  were  to  be 
and  to  do,  an  older  head  would  have  smiled  to  see  that 

[262  ] 


Biographical  Sketches 

we  were  as  ignorant  of  the  world  as  two  babes  in  a 
wood.  But  what  did  it  matter,  when  we  stood  on  the 
same  level,  and  neither  was  old  enough  or  wise  enough 
to  despise  his  brother? — for  brothers  we  were  for  two 
years.  And  now,  as  I  look  back  over  half  a  century,  I 
cannot  recall  one  unkind  word,  or  even  a  look,  that  gave 
silent  token  that  we  were  growing  indifferent,  a  little 
more  formal  in  our  manner,  as  if  our  hearts  were  a  little 
colder.  He  was  always  the  same,  so  gentle  and  affec- 
tionate that  the  very  memory  of  him  is  like  a  gleam  of 
light  out  of  the  west,  that  shows  where  the  sun  has  gone 
down.  Such  friendships  do  not  die,  though  the  loved 
ones  do ;  and  what  my  earliest  friend  was  to  me  he  will 
continue  to  be,  in  my  memory  and  my  heart,  till  we  meet 
beyond  the  river." 

From  the  memorial  address  delivered  by  Rev.  Oli- 
ver Huckel,  pastor  of  the  First  Church  of  Amherst,  is 
taken  the  following  extract:  "The  richness  and  strength 
of  his  faith  was  a  constant  inspiration  to  all  who  knew 
him.  It  was  so  simple,  so  unswerving,  so  exultant,  so 
really  jubilant.  He  believed  God  with  all  his  heart;  he 
accepted  God  at  his  word  in  his  promises;  he  rejoiced 
in  God  with  a  great  joy.  He  felt  the  hand  of  God  in 
all  the  leading  of  his  life  and  work.  He  used  to  talk 
about  this  with  a  delightful  simplicity  and  a  most  rev- 
erent humility.  The  sweetness  and  strength  of  his 
spirit  were  a  blessing  to  all  of  us  who  learned  to  see 
something  of  his  heart. 

"He  had  that  rare  combination — the  simplicity  and 
guilelessness  of  the  heart  of  a  child  united  with  that 
keenness  and  strength  of  intellect  of  a  wise,  and  broad, 
and  manly  thinker.  He  seemed  to  illustrate  in  his  own 
self  most  perfectly  the  words  of  the  apostle,  'in  malice, 
children,  but  in  understanding,  men.' ' 

Dr.  Marsh  was  twice  married,  his  second  wife,  whom 
he  married  at  Rochester,  New  York,  August  21,  1862, 

[263] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

being  Elizabeth  LeBaron  Clark,  daughter  of  Rev.  Eber 
Liscom  Clark  (Williams  1811)  and  Sarah  (Law- 
rence) Clark.  Mrs.  Marsh  is  descended  from  Lawyer 
Daniel  Clarke,  who  came  to  Windsor,  Connecticut,  in 
1639,  with  his  uncle,  Rev.  Ephraim  Huit.  She  also  has 
a  double  descent  from  the  Mayflower,  through  Gov- 
ernor William  Bradford  and  Richard  Warren.  Her 
LeBaron  ancestor  was  a  surgeon  on  a  French  privateer 
that  was  captured  in  Buzzard's  Bay  in  1694. 

Mrs.  Marsh  published  a  fitting  memorial  of  her  hus- 
band in  a  booklet,  which  contains  abundant  extracts 
from  his  letters  and  various  tributes  from  friends,  from 
which  tributes  the  extracts  given  above  were  taken. 

Mrs.  Marsh  resides  in  Amherst,  Massachusetts. 

Of  five  children  born  to  Mr.  Marsh,  two  daughters 
by  the  first  marriage  died  young.  Of  three  sons  by  the 
second  marriage,  one  is  living,  William  Dwight  Marsh, 
who  is  an  evangelist,  and  resides  at  Schroon  Lake,  New 
York. 

Besides  various  letters  from  the  mission  field  pub- 
lished in  the  Missionary  Herald,  and  various  communi- 
cations to  the  daily  press,  Dr.  Marsh  published:  "A 
Sermon  before  the  Assyrian  Mission";  "The  Tenne- 
sean  in  Persia, — a  Memoir  of  Rev.  Samuel  Aud- 
ley  Rhea"  (1868)  ;  "Half  Century  Memorial  Sermon" 
(North  Amherst,  1876);  "The  Genealogy  of  John 
Marsh  of  Hartford,  1636,  1895." 

He  also  brought  out  for  Colonel  L.  B.  Marsh  of 
Boston  the  "History  of  John  Marsh  of  Salem,  1633." 


CLASS  OF  1843 

WILLIAM  AUSTIN  BENTON,  second  son  of  Deacon 
Azariah  H.  and  Preaendia  (Ladd)  Benton,  was  born 
in  Tolland,  Connecticut,  October  11,  1818.  His  grand- 
parents were  Jacob  and  Sarah  (Ladd)  Benton,  and 

[264] 


Biographical  Sketches 

Elias  and  Susalla  (Lathrop)  Ladd.  Jacob  Benton 
was  a  soldier  in  the  War  of  the  Revolution.  The 
immigrant  ancestor,  Andrew  Benton,  came  from  Eng- 
land, and  in  1639  resided  as  a  planter  in  Milford,  Con- 
necticut. He  lived  the  last  of  his  life  at  Hartford, 
Connecticut.  The  name  is  of  Norman  origin,  being 
originally  de  Beynton  and  then  de  Benton.  The  fam- 
ily can  be  traced  back  to  about  1200,  and  Burke  calls 
it  "one  of  the  most  ancient  and  honorable  of  the  great 
families  of  Commoners  in  England." 

The  father  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  a  farmer 
and  a  man  of  influence  in  Tolland,  where  he  was  a  dea- 
con in  the  Congregational  Church. 

The  son  made  a  profession  of  religion  in  December, 
1831.  He  entered  Williams  as  a  Freshman  in  1839, 
but  after  remaining  two  years  finished  his  course  at 
Yale,  where  he  was  graduated  in  1843.  At  Williams 
he  became  a  member  of  the  Philologian  Society  and  of 
the  Mills  Theological  Society. 

The  first  year  after  graduation  was  occupied  in 
teaching  in  Fairfield  and  in  Willimantic,  Connecticut. 
He  studied  theology  at  East  Windsor  Seminary,  from 
which  he  was  graduated  in  1846.  He  was  ordained  at 
Tolland,  May  18,  1847,  and  on  the  23d  of  the  follow- 
ing month,  embarked  with  his  wife  from  Boston 
for  Smyrna,  under  appointment  of  the  American 
Board  to  go  to  Beirut.  He  arrived  at  Smyrna  August 
24,  and  at  Beirut  October  20.  Here  he  spent  the  win- 
ter studying  the  Arabic  language,  and  in  the  following 
spring  he  and  Rev.  J.  E.  Ford  (Williams  1844),  with 
their  wives,  removed  to  Aleppo,  to  occupy  it  as  a  per- 
manent station,  arriving  there  April  19,  1848.  At  that 
time  there  were  in  Aleppo  20,000  Christians,  divided 
into  various  nations,  languages,  and  sects,  and  compris- 
ing about  a  fourth  of  the  whole  population.  The  prin- 
cipal sect  was  the  Greek  Catholics,  besides  whom  there 

[265] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

were  Greeks,  Maronites,  Syrians,  and  Armenians.  The 
most  prevalent  language  was  the  Arabic,  though  the 
Turkish  was  extensively  spoken.  At  the  close  of  the 
first  year,  Messrs.  Benton  and  Ford  reported  the  com- 
mencing of  an  Arabic  service  and  the  opening  of  the 
school,  both  of  which  were  temporarily  interfered  with 
by  the  cholera  and  by  opposition  of  the  priesthood. 
During  the  year,  however,  more  than  1000  of  the  pub- 
lications of  the  mission,  including  the  Scriptures,  were 
distributed  among  the  people. 

Mr.  Benton  continued  at  Aleppo  till  February, 
1851,  when,  on  account  of  the  failure  of  his  health,  he 
returned  with  his  family  to  Beirut,  and  subsequently 
to  the  United  States,  arriving  in  New  York  on  Septem- 
ber 18  of  that  year.  On  the  recovery  of  his  health,  he 
reembarked  at  Boston,  January  7,  1853,  and  arrived 
at  Beirut  February  26,  and  on  April  19  of  the  same 
year  went  to  Mount  Lebanon  and  opened  a  station  at 
Bhamdun.  In  a  letter  published  in  his  class  report,  Mr. 
Benton,  in  speaking  of  the  new  station,  says:  "We  have 
since  resided  here,  with  the  exception  of  the  following, 
and  the  last  winters,  and  our  hope  is  to  gather  an  evan- 
gelical church,  and  train  its  members  in  the  Christian 
warfare,  on  earth,  and  for  the  brighter,  endless  fellow- 
ship of  the  skies."  The  first  of  the  winters  referred  to 
was  spent  in  Aleppo,  where  he  went  to  supply  the  tem- 
porary absence  of  Mr.  Ford,  who  had  been  called  for 
a  season  to  assist  in  the  seminary  at  Abeih.  While  at 
Aleppo,  Mr.  Benton  wrote  to  the  Missionary  Herald  a 
letter  in  which  he  gave  an  account  of  the  great  changes 
which  had  taken  place  in  civil,  social,  moral,  and  reli- 
gious points  of  view  since  the  opening  of  the  station 
there  five  years  before.  In  the  same  period,  there  had 
been  established  between  Aleppo  and  the  Nestorians 
three  new  stations,  Aintab,  Diarbekir,  and  Mosul, — all 
having  organized  churches. 

[266] 


Biographical  Sketches 

The  field,  of  which  Bhamdun  was  the  station,  had  a 
population  of  about  40,000,  consisting  of  Greeks,  Mar- 
onites,  and  Druzes.  Of  this  village,  Mr.  Benton  gave 
the  following  description:  "Bhamdun  is  beautiful  for 
situation,  and  of  delightful  climate.  It  commands  an 
extensive  prospect  of  the  Mediterranean,  which  forms 
not  less  than  a  third  part  of  the  boundary  of  its  visible 
horizon,  and  is  about  3600  feet  below;  of  Beirut,  with 
its  gardens,  about  twelve  miles  distant ;  and  also,  at  this 
season,  of  Cyprus,  nearly  100  miles  distant,  when  be- 
hind its  mountains  the  sun  sinks  into  the  sea.  Immedi- 
ately around  us,  on  these  goodly  mountains,  and  in  the 
valleys,  are  thousands  of  vineyards,  orchards,  and  gar- 
dens, covering  all  their  sides,  and  crowning  their  sum- 
mit with  the  choicest  foliage  and  fruits.  The  climate  is 
more  uniform,  and  of  a  more  agreeable  temperature, 
than  that  of  New  England."  Mr.  Benton  remained 
here  six  years  and  met  with  signal  success.  In  1856  he 
reported  that  besides  the  carrying  on  of  Bible  classes 
for  both  sexes,  Sabbath-schools  and  preaching  services, 
there  had  been  in  successful  operation  through  the  year 
ten  schools  in  as  many  different  villages,  with  more  than 
450  pupils.  There  was  also  a  successful  girls'  school  at 
Bhamdun.  Access  to  the  people  had  been  gained  and 
much  good  accomplished  by  advice  and  relief  given  in 
times  of  sickness.  An  attempt  to  open  a  station  at  Zah- 
leh,  which  at  first  seemed  an  attractive  field,  had  to  be 
abandoned,  for  the  time,  on  account  of  the  violent  op- 
position which  had  been  inspired  by  the  Greek  Catholic 
Bishop  and  his  priests.  The  difficulties  were  speedily 
settled,  however,  by  a  visit  to  Syria  of  Hon.  James  Wil- 
liams, United  States  Ambassador  at  Constantinople. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Benton  were  released  from  service 
June  17,  1859,  but  continued  to  reside  at  Bhamdun  till 
June  18,  1861,  when  their  connection  with  the  Board 
was  finally  dissolved.  From  this  time  till  1869,  the  year 

[267] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

of  his  return  to  the  United  States,  Mr.  Benton  was  in 
the  employ  of  the  Scotch  Board. 

The  remaining  years  of  his  life  were  spent  in 
America.  He  died  very  suddenly  in  Barre,  Massa- 
chusetts, August  23,  1874,  and  was  buried  in  Tolland, 
Connecticut. 

The  following  account  of  Mr.  Benton's  missionary 
life  is  furnished  by  one  of  the  sons:  "My  father  had 
charge,  during  his  mission  work  in  Syria,  of  about 
twenty-five  or  thirty  schools,  scattered  all  over  the  Leb- 
anon. Twice  I  accompanied  him  in  his  round  of  visits 
to  these  schools.  He  had  so  gained  the  regard  of  all 
classes  and  sects  that  when  the  war  of  1860  broke  out 
between  the  Druzes  and  Maronites  in  the  Lebanon, 
the  Druze  chiefs  promised  to  protect  him  and  with  him 
his  whole  parish,  which  was  the  large  and  important 
village  of  Bhamdun,  in  case  he  should  remain  at  his 
post  on  the  mountains.  He  agreed  to  remain,  and  when 
the  American  Consul  invited  him  to  come  down  to  Bei- 
rut and  then  changed  that  invitation  to  an  order,  he  pre- 
ferred to  disobey  the  order  and  remain,  if  by  so  doing  he 
could  protect  the  people  of  his  parish.  'Yoosef  Abd 
el  Malek'  (the  Druze  Chieftain),  said  the  Consul, 
'will  cut  your  throat  for  a  sixpence.'  But  my  father 
trusted  the  Druze  Chieftain,  and  they  kept  their 
promise. 

"I  remember,  as  a  boy  of  about  eight  years  old,  a 
council  of  war  held  in  my  father's  study,  when  some 
twelve  or  fifteen  Druze  chiefs  assembled.  One  of  them 
asked  my  father,  'Where  are  your  weapons,  sir?'  (In  a 
Druze  palace  the  principal  room  is  always  a  regular 
arsenal.)  'At  your  sides,  gentlemen;  I  am  a  man  of 
peace.' 

"On  one  occasion,  -when  the  Druzes  of  the  interior 
came  with  their  mules  to  carry  off  the  booty  from 
Bhamdun,  which  was  a  rich  village,  they  were  met  at 

[  268  ] 


Biographical  Sketches 

a  gate  of  the  town  by  the  same  Yoosef  Abd  el  Malek, 
accompanied  by  my  father  and  a  few  others.  'Not  a 
chicken  will  you  take  from  this  village,'  said  Sheik 
Yoosef,  'except  over  my  dead  body.'  'If  that  be  so/ 
said  the  wild  mountaineers,  'we'll  go  back.'  They  did 
so,  and  Bhamdun  was  the  only  Christian  village  of  the 
Lebanon  that  was  not  burned  and  plundered  during 
that  terrible  massacre. 

"You  will  find  an  account  of  that  uprising  in 
Colonel  Churchill's  work  on  the  Druzes  of  Mount 
Lebanon." 

Mr.  Benton  was  married  at  Tolland,  Connecticut, 
May  18,  1847,  the  day  of  his  ordination,  to  Miss 
Loanza  S.  Goulding,  who  was  born  in  Hubbardston, 
but  was  then  residing  in  Sterling,  Massachusetts.  She 
was  a  daughter  of  Jason  Goulding,  and  granddaughter, 
on  her  mother's  side,  of  Daniel  Howe,  who  was  of  Eng- 
lish descent.  She  died  in  1900. 

Of  seven  children  born  to  them  four  are  living: 
Charles  William,  who  was  born  in  Tolland,  was 
graduated  at  Yale  in  1874,  and  is  now  Professor 
of  Romance  Languages  in  the  University  of  Min- 
nesota; Edwin  Austin,  born  in  Bhamdun,  a  graduate 
of  Yale  in  the  class  of  1878;  Mrs.  Harriet  B.  Clark, 
wife  of  J.  S.  Clark,  Professor  of  Latin  in  the  Univer- 
sity of  Minnesota;  and  Miss  Mary  L.  Benton,  formerly 
Professor  of  Latin  in  Smith  College,  and  now  Profes- 
sor of  Latin  and  Dean  of  women  in  Carlton  College. 

JOHN  COTTON  STRONG,  son  of  Joseph  and  Rhoda 
C.  (Gates)  Strong,  and  brother  of  Joseph  Dwight 
Strong  (Williams  1849),  was  born  in  Granby,  Con- 
necticut, May  12,  1818.  The  mother  was  a  daughter 
of  Jesse  and  Rhoda  (Reed)  Gates  of  Simsbury,  Con- 
necticut. Joseph  Strong,  the  father,  was  a  farmer, 
the  son  of  Deacon  Elnathan  and  Rachel  (Warren) 

[269] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

Strong.  The  immigrant  ancestor  of  the  family  was 
Elder  John  Strong,  who  came  to  Dorchester,  Massa- 
chusetts, about  1632,  and  then  removed  to  Hingham, 
Massachusetts.  John  Cotton  Strong  fitted  for  col- 
lege at  Monson  Academy,  and  entered  college  in  1839, 
having  for  one  of  his  classmates  Joseph  Kingsbury 
Wight,  who  became  a  missionary  to  China,  and  who  is 
(1914)  one  of  the  two  surviving  members  of  the  class. 
In  college  he  was  a  member  of  the  Philotechnian  So- 
ciety and  of  the  Mills  Theological  Society.  After 
graduation,  he  studied  theology  at  East  Windsor,  Con- 
necticut, graduating  there  in  1846.  Having  received 
from  the  American  Board  an  appointment  as  a  mission- 
ary to  the  Choctaw  Indians,  he  was  ordained  at  Bland- 
ford,  Massachusetts,  December  16,  1846,  and  departed 
for  his  mission  January,  1847.  He  was  located  for  a 
time  at  Washita  and  then  at  Mount  Pleasant.  This  is 
the  mission  where  Alfred  Wright  (Williams  1812)  la- 
bored with  great  success  for  over  thirty  years,  having 
gone  there  soon  after  the  beginning  of  the  mission. 
When  Mr.  Strong  began  his  work  there,  he  found  the 
mission  in  a  highly  prosperous  condition.  The  re- 
port given  in  the  Missionary  Herald  for  1848,  states: 
"Eight  churches,  embracing  more  than  800  members, 
more  than  seventy  of  whom  have  been  received  to  fel- 
lowship during  the  past  year,  are  under  the  care  of  this 
mission.  There  are  four  boarding-schools  for  girls, 
embracing  about  165  pupils;  and  one  for  boys,  with 
fifteen  pupils ;  also  three  free  schools,  with  about  eighty 
pupils.  The  progress  in  the  schools,  and  the  demeanor 
of  the  pupils,  has  been  highly  encouraging,  and  such  as 
to  gratify  their  parents  and  call  forth  their  commenda- 
tions." Mr.  Strong  entered  into  this  labor  which  had 
been  done  by  others  and  was  himself  successful  in  his 
own  work.  He  came  to  feel,  however,  that  he  could 
not  consistently  remain  in  his  position  while  slavery 

[270] 


Biographical  Sketches 

was  allowed  in  the  territory,  and  therefore  sought  and 
obtained  relief  from  connection  with  the  Board  in  1849. 

He  next  engaged  in  home  missionary  work  in  Illi- 
nois, being  located  for  one  year  at  Edgington.  From 
1850  to  1853  he  supplied  the  Congregational  Church 
at  Chester  Factory,  Massachusetts.  From  1854  to 
1856  he  preached  at  Lyons,  Iowa;  and  from  1857  to 
1859  at  Bradford  in  the  same  state.  Then  for  two 
years  he  was  superintendent  of  schools  in  Chickasaw 
County.  He  then  removed  to  Minnesota,  being  acting 
pastor  at  Albert  Lea  1863-64,  and  at  Chain  Lake  Cen- 
tre 1864-70.  From  1870  to  1891  he  was  without 
charge.  After  1891  he  resided  at  South  Seattle,  Wash- 
ington, where  he  died  December  1,  1896,  aged  78  years. 
The  funeral  services  were  conducted  by  Rev.  Edmund 
Wright  (Williams  1836),  and  Rev.  George  H.  Lee 
(Williams  1879). 

He  married  on  December  15,  1846,  at  Blandford, 
Massachusetts,  Celia  Semantha,  daughter  of  Dr.  Silas 
P.  and  Grace  (Anderson)  Wight  of  Blandford,  who 
died  March  2,  1850.  He  married  next,  April  23,  1857, 
Mrs.  Cynthia  Rosetta,  widow  of  Chapin  Hamlin,  and 
daughter  of  Phineas  and  Sabra  (Buell)  Newton,  of 
Newport,  New  Hampshire,  who  survived  him  with  a 
son,  a  daughter,  and  an  adopted  daughter. 

•» 

JOSEPH  KINGSBURY  WIGHT,  son  of  Daniel  and 
Roxana  (Kingsbury)  Wight,  grandson  of  Daniel  and 
Mary  (Puffer)  Wight  and  of  Joseph  and  Lois  R. 
(Porter)  Kingsbury,  was  born  in  Jewett  City,  Con- 
necticut, February  9,  1824.  The  immigrant  ances- 
tors of  the  Wights  and  Kingsburys  came  from  Eng- 
land in  1630  and  1635,  and  settled  in  Dedham,  Massa- 
chusetts. A  relative  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was 
Rev.  Cyrus  Kingsbury  (Brown  University  1812),  who 
was  missionary  to  the  Choctaw  Indians,  was  imprisoned 

[271] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

in  their  defence,  and  moved  with  them  beyond  the 
Mississippi  River. 

The  father  of  Joseph  Kingsbury  Wight  was  a  man- 
ufacturer. In  1825  he  was  one  of  the  organizers  of  the 
Second  Ecclesiastical  Society  of  Griswold,  Connecti- 
cut. He  lived  for  a  time  in  Coventry,  Connecticut, 
where  he  was  remembered  as  an  enterprising  citizen. 
It  is  related  that  while  he  was  living  in  Troy,  New 
York,  the  employes  of  his  factory  were  summoned  to 
prayers  every  morning  at  six  o'clock  by  sound  of  the 
bell.  In  1841  he  was  School  Commissioner,  and  in 
1843  an  Alderman. 

The  son  fitted  for  college  partly  in  schools  in  Troy, 
New  York,  and  partly  at  Foote's  Boarding-school  in 
Williamstown,  Massachusetts.  He  entered  college  as  a 
Freshman  in  1839.  He  united  with  the  church  con- 
nected with  the  college  when  he  was  sixteen  years  of 
age.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Philologian  Society.  At 
the  Senior  Exhibition,  December  20,  1842,  he  was  one 
of  the  speakers,  his  subject  being  "Contemplation."  He 
was  a  diligent  and  successful  student,  graduating  with 
the  appointment  of  an  Oration,  and  was  one  of  the 
speakers  at  the  Commencement,  August  17,  1843,  the 
subject  of  his  oration  being  "The  Beautiful." 

After  graduation  he  spent  one  year  in  Georgia  as 
colporteur  of  the  American  Tract  Society.  He  stud- 
ied theology  for  a  time  at  Columbia,  South  Carolina, 
but  from  1845  to  1848  was  a  member  of  Princeton 
Theological  Seminary,  where  he  was  graduated  in  the 
latter  year.  On  June  3, 1847,  he  was  licensed  to  preach 
by  the  Presbytery  of  Troy,  and  was  ordained  as  an 
evangelist  by  the  same  Presbytery,  August  23,  1848. 
In  the  same  year  he  went  out  as  a  missionary  to  Ningpo, 
China,  under  the  appointment  of  the  Presbyterian 
Board  of  Foreign  Missions.  After  a  short  time  he 
was  located  at  Shanghai.  Within  a  few  years  he  was 

[272] 


Biographical  Sketches 

compelled  by  ill  health  to  return  to  the  United  States, 
and  was  finally  obliged,  for  the  same  reason,  to  relin- 
quish the  foreign  field.  In  the  year  1858-59  he  was 
stated  supply  of  the  Second  Church  in  Troy,  and  then 
stated  supply  of  the  Ellessdie  Chapel  at  New  Ham- 
burgh, New  York.  He  then  became  stated  supply 
at  Crescent  City,  Florida,  for  the  years  1883-85,  and  at 
Satsuma  Heights,  1885-87,  and  from  1888  at  Green 
Cove  Springs.  He  organized  three  churches  in  Florida 
and  has  been  a  Presbyterian  preacher  for  over  sixty- 
two  years. 

He  was  married  in  Princeton,  New  Jersey,  August 
16,  1848,  to  Miss  Elizabeth  Neil,  daughter  of  William 
J.  and  Margaret  (Nevius)  Van  Dyke.  She  died  Jan- 
uary 22,  1882,  at  New  Hamburgh.  There  were  born  to 
them  eighteen  children,  of  whom  eight  are  living.  Two, 
a  son  and  daughter,  were  missionaries  in  China,  where 
they  died  in  the  work.  The  living  are  Mrs.  Lizzie  W. 
Norton;  Miss  Emma  Wight;  James  E.  Wight,  sales- 
man; Luther  Wight,  clerk;  Mrs.  Mary  E.  Williams; 
Miss  Jessie  K.  Wight;  Rev.  E.  Van  Dyke  Wight, 
D.D.  (Princeton  1892) ;  Miss  Julia  C.  Wight. 

Mr.  Wight  is  still  living  (1914),  one  of  two  surviv- 
ing members  of  the  class  of  1843,  and  resides  at  New 
Hamburgh. 

Mr.  Wight's  published  writings  are:  "History  of 
the  Presbytery  of  North  River" ;  "History  of  the  Pres- 
bytery of  East  Florida" ;  "Reminiscences  of  fifty  years 
in  the  Ministry";  "Brief  memorial  of  my  two  mission- 
ary children,  Rev.  Calvin  Wight  and  his  sister,  Fannie 
E.  Wight";  "The  Beginning  of  things  in  Nature  and 
in  Grace"  (Philadelphia,  1911) .  The  most  of  his  pub- 
lished writings,  however,  are  found  in  the  Princeton 
Review.  He  has  also  written  for  the  Presbyterian  and 
the  New  York  Evangelist. 

[278] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

CLASS  OF  1844 

JACOB  BEST,  son  of  John  and  Margaret  (Lape) 
Best,  was  born  in  Livingston,  New  York,  February  3, 
1823.  The  father  was  a  farmer  by  occupation,  and  the 
parents  are  described  as  pious,  industrious,  frugal,  and 
intelligent.  The  son  fitted  for  college  in  Claverack, 
New  York,  and  entered  Williams  as  a  Freshman,  in 
1840.  In  college  he  was  a  member  of  the  Mills  Theo- 
logical Society  and  of  the  Philotechnian  Society. 
Three  of  his  classmates  became  missionaries  in  for- 
eign fields:  Joshua  Edwards  Ford,  in  Syria;  Cyrus 
Taggart  Mills,  in  India;  and  David  Rood,  in  South 
Africa,  i 

After  graduation  he  managed  for  a  season  a  farm 
which  his  father  had  given  him,  but  called  by  a  sense  of 
duty  to  the  ministry,  he  studied  theology  at  Union 
Seminary  and  was  ordained  by  Presbytery,  December 
6,  1848.  Having  determined  to  go  on  a  mission  to 
the  heathen,  he  was  accepted  by  the  American  Board, 
and  sailed  for  the  Gaboon  Mission,  West  Africa, 
November  3,  1849.  He  acquired  the  language  of  the 
country  very  readily  so  that  after  nine  months  of  study 
he  was  preaching  weekly  in  the  Bakali.  In  1852  he 
was  stationed  at  Olandebenk,  twenty-five  miles  from 
Baraka.  In  1853  he  returned  to  this  country,  and  hav- 
ing married,  he  sailed  with  his  wife  for  his  field  Decem- 
ber 10  of  the  same  year.  In  the  earlier  part  of  that  year 
he  had  made  an  excursion  through  the  Bakali  country 
and  the  following  year  he  helped  Mr.  Preston  to  make 
a  final  revision  of  "Outlines  of  Bakali  Grammar."  In 
1856  he  was  stationed  at  Baraka,  where  he  continued 
to  labor  with  great  zeal  and  success,  performing  much 
pioneer  work,  until,  after  twelve  years  of  service,  in 
1861  a  wasting  fever  compelled  him  to  return  to  this 
country.  For  three  years  he  resided  in  Stuyvesant, 
New  York,  occasionally  preaching  in  the  neighboring 

[274] 


Biographical  Sketches 

churches.  Failing  to  recover  his  health,  in  April,  1864, 
he  reluctantly  terminated  his  connection  with  the 
Board,  and  then  went  to  Waymart,  Pennsylvania, 
where  he  took  charge  of  two  small  churches,  and  where 
he  remained  till  the  fall  of  1875,  when  he  went  to 
Brooklyn,  Pennsylvania,  to  take  charge  of  a  church 
there,  over  which  he  was  installed  as  pastor  by  the 
Lackawanna  Presbytery  May  26,  1885. 

In  1895  the  infirmities  of  age  led  him  to  give  up  the 
active  duties  of  the  ministry  and  he  went  to  live  with 
a  son-in-law  at  Coventry,  New  York.  Here  he  died 
April  16,  1898,  from  heart  failure  following  an  attack 
of  the  grippe.  The  funeral  was  held  at  his  old  church 
in  Brooklyn,  Pennsylvania. 

Mr.  Best's  character  in  college  and  in  subsequent 
years  was  such  as  to  win  from  classmates  words  of  the 
highest  praise.  One  of  the  surviving  classmates  spoke 
of  him  as  "that  staunch  good  man,"  while  another 
writes,  "Dear  Best's  modest,  conscientious  manliness 
and  earnest  devotion  to  duty,  as  well  as  his  superior 
scholarship,  won  for  him  the  confidence  and  respect  of 
the  whole  class,  and  the  warm  love  of  his  most  imme- 
diate friends." 

He  had  the  rare  happiness  of  being  one  of  the 
nine  of  the  then  twelve  surviving  members  of  his  class 
who  attended  the  fiftieth  anniversary  meeting  at  their 
Alma  Mater  in  1894,  and  at  their  adjournment  he  made 
the  closing  prayer. 

Mr.  Best  was  married  December  1,  1853,  in  Ovid, 
New  York,  to  Miss  Gertrude  Nevius,  daughter  of 
John  and  Gertrude  (Hegeman)  Nevius.  There  were 
born  to  them  four  children.  At  his  death  he  was  sur- 
vived by  his  widow,  two  daughters,  and  a  son.  The 
son,  John  L.  Best,  resides  in  Northampton,  Massachu- 
setts, and  a  daughter,  Mrs.  G.  W.  Adams,  resides  in 
Rochester,  New  York.  The  following  letter,  of  date 

[275] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

July  11, 1911,  is  from  Dr.  Calvin  C.  Halsey,  one  of  the 
two  surviving  classmates  of  Mr.  Best. 

"Mr.  Best  entered  college  with  his  class  in  the  fall 
of  1840.  He  was  between  seventeen  and  eighteen 
years  of  age.  The  son  of  well-to-do  parents,  he  was 
not  obliged  to  economize  in  his  college  course.  Possess- 
ing a  sweet  and  amiable  disposition,  he  was  loved  by  his 
classmates,  who  were  wont  to  call  him  Jake.  Although 
he  had  not  publicly  professed  his  faith  in  Christ,  his  life 
was  exemplary  and  consistent. 

"In  a  revival  in  college  early  in  1842,  he  gave  his 
heart  to  Christ  and  at  the  communion  of  the  College 
Church  in  June  following  he  was  received  as  a  member 
on  confession  of  faith.  Job  Pierson  of  the  class  of 
1842  and  Calvin  C.  Halsey  of  the  class  of  1844,  were 
received  in  like  manner  at  the  same  time.  Rev.  Dr. 
Mark  Hopkins  was  the  pastor. 

"Mr.  Best  was  faithful  and  conscientious  in  his  du- 
ties as  a  student  and  a  professing  Christian.  He  grew 
with  the  passing  years.  Modest  and  retiring  in  dispo- 
sition, he  shrank  from  honors  to  which  his  classmates 
thought  him  entitled. 

"It  was  a  surprise  to  many  of  his  classmates  that  he 
chose  the  ministry  for  his  life  work,  and  especially  to 
be  a  foreign  missionary  and  go  to  Africa!  From  the 
day  of  his  conversion  he  felt  that  he  was  not  his  own; 
that  he  was  bought  with  a  price.  His  duty  hence- 
forth was  to  glorify  God.  He  did  a  grand  work  for 
the  Master  in  Africa  from  1849  to  1861,  when 
failing  health  compelled  him  to  return  to  his  native 
land. 

"Between  thirty  and  forty  years  he  ministered  to 
small  churches  in  Wayne  and  Susquehanna  Counties, 
Pennsylvania.  He  .was  greatly  beloved  by  all  to 
whom  he  ministered. 

"He  died  at  the  home  of  his  daughter,  Mrs.  Gertrude 

[276] 


Biographical  Sketches 

B.  Merriam,  in  Coventry,  New  York,  in  April,  1898, 
and  was  buried  in  Brooklyn,  Pennsylvania." 

JOSHUA  EDWARDS  FORD,  son  of  George  W.  and 
Mary  (Edwards)  Ford,  was  born  at  Ogdensburg,  New 
York,  August  3, 1825.  He  was  the  grandson  of  Major 
Mahlon  Ford,  who  was  an  officer  of  the  Revolutionary 
Army.  His  mother,  who  is  described  as  a  truly  pious 
and  lovely  woman,  died  when  he  was  but  three  years  of 
age  and  at  her  death  consecrated  him,  an  only  child,  to 
the  gospel  ministry.  He  was  hopefully  converted  at 
his  native  place  in  1837,  and  in  1839  united  with  the 
First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Poughkeepsie,  New 
York.  He  studied  for  a  time  at  Ogdensburg  Acad- 
emy, where  he  had  for  a  teacher  Tayler  Lewis.  His 
preparation  for  college  was  completed  at  the  Pough- 
keepsie Collegiate  School,  from  which  he  entered 
Williams  as  a  Freshman  in  1840.  In  college  he  was 
a  member  of  the  Philologian  and  of  the  Mills  Theo- 
logical Societies.  He  was  one  of  the  speakers  at  the 
Junior  Exhibition,  his  subject  being,  "Originality." 
At  Commencement  he  had  an  oration,  the  subject  be- 
ing, "Making  Haste  Slowly."  Having  previously  de- 
cided to  study  for  the  ministry,  while  he  was  in  college 
his  mind  was  directed  to  foreign  missions  through  the 
exhortations  of  Rev.  Henry  R.  Hoisington  (Williams 
1828),  of  the  Ceylon  Mission.  He  studied  theology 
for  three  years  at  Union  Seminary,  where  he  was  grad- 
uated in  1847.  During  his  seminary  course,  he  spent 
his  vacations  doing  the  work  of  a  colporteur  of  the 
American  Tract  Society,  in  Pike  County,  Pennsylva- 
nia. He  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the  Fourth  Pres- 
bytery of  New  York  in  April,  1847,  and  was  ordained 
in  New  York  the  following  September.  Having  of- 
fered himself  to  the  American  Board  and  having  been 
accepted,  he  was  appointed  to  the  Syrian  Mission.  He 

[277] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

sailed  from  Boston  December  29,  1847,  and  arrived  at 
Beirut  March  8,  1848.  Shortly  after  this  he  was  des- 
ignated for  Aleppo,  to  which  place  he  proceeded,  with 
Rev.  William  A.  Benton,  who  had  been  a  college  mate 
for  a  time,  reaching  that  place  on  April  19.  Here  he 
remained  seven  years,  finding  it  a  field  of  peculiar  trials, 
owing  to  the  numbers  and  variety  of  his  labors  and  the 
prejudice  of  the  people  against  the  truth.  Besides 
discharging  the  regular  duties  of  a  missionary  for  that 
city,  he  was  forwarding  agent,  postmaster,  and  banker 
for  several  of  the  stations  farther  in  the  interior. 
Responding  to  an  urgent  call,  leaving  his  family  in 
Aleppo,  he  spent  six  months  in  Mosul,  preaching  the 
gospel.  On  the  formation  of  the  Central  Turkey  Mis- 
sion, which  included  Aleppo  within  its  field,  Mr.  Ford 
was  transferred  to  Beirut,  where  he  labored  success- 
fully for  four  years.  He  was  next  appointed  to  the 
Sidon  station,  where  he  was  associated,  as  he  had  been 
at  Aleppo,  with  Rev.  W.  W.  Eddy  (Williams  1845), 
who  had  been  a  college  mate.  In  Sidon  he  had  to  meet 
the  responsibilities  of  a  wide  field,  while  much  of  the 
time  his  associates  were  laid  aside  by  sickness.  In 
1861,  by  invitation  of  the  Turkish  Missions  Aid  Soci- 
ety, he  visited  England,  where  he  spent  several  months 
in  presenting  the  claims  of  Syria  upon  the  sympathies 
of  the  Church  of  Christ.  In  the  summer  of  1864  he 
removed  to  Deir  Mimas,  a  village  in  the  eastern  part 
of  the  Sidon  district,  that  he  might  have  greater  facility 
in  reaching  the  congregations  and  schools  in  that  region. 
In  May,  1865,  on  account  of  the  illness  of  the  family, 
he  was  compelled  to  return  to  this  country,  arriving  in 
New  York  in  August.  He  fixed  his  residence  in 
Geneseo,  Illinois,  where  he  labored  in  preaching,  in  the 
Bible  class,  and  as  a  colporteur.  The  addresses  he 
made  in  different  places  in  this  country  on  the  subject 
of  Missions  were  most  interesting  and  acceptable.  His 

[278] 


Biographical  Sketches 

health  had  been  undermined  by  his  eighteen  years  of 
hard  service  in  Syria,  and  he  became  an  easy  prey  to 
disease.  On  Sabbath,  March  25,  1866,  he  rode  several 
miles  on  horseback  to  preach  in  a  destitute  neighbor- 
hood, and  returning  in  the  evening,  he  was  chilled  by 
the  ride.  He  was  attacked  by  inflammation  of  the 
lungs,  from  which  he  died  April  3,  at  the  age  of  41. 

In  his  last  sickness,  his  mind  dwelt  with  interest  on 
the  subject  of  missions,  and  even  in  its  wanderings  re- 
turned to  Syria,  his  old  field  of  labor.  Though  from 
the  nature  of  his  disease  he  was  not  allowed  to  say 
much,  he  left  a  stirring  message,  a  part  of  which  is  here 
given.  As  his  disease  lay  heavy  upon  him,  he  suddenly 
roused  himself  and  said,  with  great  emphasis:  "I  have 
a  testimony  to  give,  and  I  had  better  do  it  now.  Tell 
the  Christian  young  men  of  America  that  the  responsi- 
bility of  saving  the  world  rests  on  them:  not  on  the  old 
men,  but  on  the  young  men/' 

After  his  death,  Rev.  Dr.  Henry  H.  Jessup  wrote 
from  Beirut:  "The  news  of  the  death  of  Mr.  Ford 
has  plunged  us  all  into  deep  affliction.  We  have  lost  a 
brother,  a  personal  friend,  a  cherished  companion,  and 
ail  able,  accomplished,  and  devoted  missionary. 

"As  a  linguist,  Mr.  Ford  had  few  superiors.  He 
spoke  and  wrote  the  Arabic,  Turkish,  and  French  well. 
His  knowledge  of  the  Arabic  was  exact  and  compre- 
hensive. Dr.  Eli  Smith  remarked  that  he  had  at  com- 
mand a  larger  vocabulary  of  Arabic  words  than  almost 
any  other  missionary.  His  knowledge  was  also  criti- 
cal, and  his  judgment  of  great  value  in  the  editing  of 
Arabic  books  for  the  press." 

Dr.  Jessup  speaks  further  of  his  sermons,  which 
were  forcible  and  impressive,  of  his  sober,  calm,  and 
clear  judgment,  making  him  a  wise  counsellor,  of  his 
iron  frame  and  great  physical  vigor,  which  enabled  him 
to  be  indefatigable  in  missionary  labor. 

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Williams  College  and  Missions 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Board  that  year,  after 
the  Secretary,  Dr.  Wood,  had  referred  to  the  death  of 
several  missionaries,  Dr.  Hopkins,  the  President  of  the 
Board,  spoke  as  follows:  "Mr.  Ford  I  speak  of  rather 
than  the  others,  because  I  knew  him  well;  and  I  feel 
that  I  cannot  speak  of  him  too  highly.  He  was  a  most 
able,  judicious,  thoroughly  accomplished,  and  conse- 
crated man.  His  spirit  may  be  judged  of  from  the 
fact,  that  when  he  went  out  he  gave  all  his  property, 
which  was  considerable,  to  the  Board.  I  remember 
conversing  with  him  upon  it,  and  questioning  the  ex- 
pediency of  the  step ;  but  he  said  he  preferred  to  do  it, 
and  to  be  on  the  same  footing  with  his  brethren  in  the 
field.  It  may  not  always  be  wise  for  a  soldier,  when 
he  passes  a  river  into  an  enemy's  country,  to  burn  the 
bridge,  but  it  shows  his  spirit.  He  burnt  the  bridge. 
He  had  no  thought  of  returning  to  enjoy  himself  in  this 
country;  but  after  eighteen  years  of  steady  service  he 
came  back  with  his  sick  wife ;  and  in  his  incessant  labors 
for  the  cause  was  prostrated  and  died." 

Mr.  Ford  has  been  spoken  of  by  others  as  among 
the  ablest  and  most  useful  missionaries  the  American 
Board  has  ever  sent  out.  Wherever  he  went  he  im- 
pressed people  by  his  freedom  from  ostentation,  by  his 
ability,  sincerity,  and  earnestness. 

Mr.  Ford  was  married,  September  6,  1847,  to  Mary 
Perry,  of  Williamstown,  Massachusetts,  daughter  of 
Dr.  Alfred  Perry,  formerly  of  Stockbridge,  Massachu- 
setts. There  were  born  to  them  five  sons  and  two 
daughters.  The  second  son,  George  Alfred  Ford, 
born  in  Aleppo,  Syria,  was  graduated  from  this  col- 
lege in  1872,  and  received  here  the  honorary  degree  of 
Doctor  of  Divinity  in  1894.  He  has  been  a  mission- 
ary in  Syria  since  1830,  and  is  at  present  Professor  of 
New  Testament  Theology  and  the  Life  of  Christ  in 
Beirut  Theological  Seminary. 

[280  J 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

The  following  letter  will  be  read  with  interest  not 
only  because  it  presents  some  additional  facts  but  be- 
cause it  was  recently  written  by  Dr.  Calvin  C.  Halsey, 
one  of  the  two  surviving  classmates  of  Mr.  Ford: 

"Mr.  Ford  entered  college  at  the  age  of  sixteen  in 
the  class  of  1844.  He  was  one  of  the  younger  students 
and  wore  a  roundabout.  From  the  first  he  was  known 
for  his  consistent  Christian  character.  Those  who 
knew  him  would  no  sooner  have  expected  him  to  do  any- 
thing wrong  than  they  would  Professor  Albert  Hop- 
kins. He  had  a  cheery  social  side,  but  there  was  no 
nonsense  about  him.  He  led  a  consecrated  life  and 
was  always  active  in  work  for  the  Master.  He  was 
faithful  and  conscientious  as  a  student  and  maintained 
a  high  standing  in  his  class.  Scholarship  was  a  second- 
ary matter  with  him.  He  would  glorify  God  in  win- 
ning souls  for  the  Master,  and  there  are  many  who 
gratefully  remember  the  salutary  influence  of  his  life. 

"He  chose  to  be  a  foreign  missionary  and  did  a  no- 
ble work  in  Syria  for  eighteen  years.  On  account  of 
the  health  of  Mrs.  Ford  he  returned  to  his  native  land 
in  1865  and  died  at  Geneseo,  Illinois,  April  3,  1866. 

"Rev.  Henry  H.  Jessup,  D.D.,  and  Rev.  J.  Lo- 
renzo Lyons,  D.D.,  both  of  Montrose,  Pennsylvania, 
and  for  several  years  associated  with  Mr.  Ford  in  the 
Syrian  Mission,  have  borne  testimony  to  the  grand  work 
which  Mr.  Ford  did  for  the  cause  of  Christ  in  Syria. 

"Seated  alphabetically,  in  class-room  and  chapel  I 
was  near  him  for  four  years.  He  always  commanded 
my  highest  respect  and  esteem." 

CYRUS  TAGGART  MILLS  was  born  in  Paris,  Oneida 
County,  New  York,  May  4,  1819.  When  he  was  four 
years  of  age  his  parents  removed  to  Lenox,  Madison 
County,  New  York,  and  there  he  grew  up  on  a  farm. 
He  was  converted  in  February,  1838,  and  united  with 

f281? 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

the  church  the  following  May.  He  had  previously 
longed  for  an  education,  and  now,  dedicating  himself 
to  the  missionary  work,  he  began  the  study  of  Latin. 
He  fitted  for  college  at  Williamstown,  and  at  Manlius, 
New  York.  He  entered  college  from  Lenox,  New 
York.  In  college  he  was  a  member  of  the  Philotech- 
nian  Society,  and  the  Mills  Theological  Society.  He 
was  a  successful  student,  and  was  one  of  the  speakers 
at  Commencement,  his  subject  being  "Feeling  and 
Principle." 

After  graduation  he  entered  Union  Theological 
Seminary,  from  which  he  graduated  in  1847.  During 
his  course  in  the  seminary  he  was  active  in  doing 
missionary  work  among  the  poor  of  the  city.  He  was 
licensed  to  preach  in  April,  1847,  by  the  Third  Presby- 
tery of  New  York,  and  ordained  at  the  Brainard 
Church  in  February,  in  1848.  He  spent  a  year  in 
studying  Tamil  with  a  returned  missionary  from  Cey- 
lon, at  the  same  time  doing  some  preaching. 

He  with  his  wife  embarked  from  Boston  on  the 
10th  of  October,  1848,  under  appointment  of  the  Amer- 
ican Board  to  join  the  Ceylon  Mission.  They  reached 
Madras  February  20,  1849,  and  Ceylon,  March  5.  In 
April  he  was  appointed  by  the  Jaffna  Mission  Profes- 
sor of  Science  in  the  Batticotta  Seminary,  and  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1850,  he  succeeded  Mr.  Hoisington  (Williams 
1828)  as  president,  which  position  he  held  till  1853. 

In  the  Batticotta  Seminary,  which  in  1851  came 
under  his  sole  charge,  Mr.  Mills  aimed  at  sound  schol- 
arship and  at  imparting  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the 
Scriptures  with  good  religious  training.  The  cata- 
logue of  the  seminary  issued  by  Mr.  Mills  was  quite 
unique  in  many  of  its  features.  In  the  first  place,  the 
students  were  enrolled  by  their  English  names,  some  of 
which  had  been  given  in  honor  of  some  American  bene- 
factor, or  distinguished  person.  In  the  list  appear  the 

[  282] 


Biographical  Sketches 

names  S.  H.  Taylor,  Edward  Beecher,  E.  N.  Kirk, 
Henry  A.  Nelson,  Derrick  L.  Boardman,  Henry  Clay, 
Samuel  W.  S.  Dutton.  Besides  a  column  assigned  to 
residences,  columns  are  also  severally  given  to  "Char- 
acter of  Parents,"  "Scholarship,"  "Religious  Charac- 
ter," "Age,"  and  "Remarks."  In  1852,  there  were 
over  100  pupils  in  the  seminary  and  Mr.  Mills  was 
gradually  bringing  it  to  a  self-supporting  basis.  The 
graduates  were  going  forth  to  occupy  positions  of  in- 
fluence and  Mr.  Mills  was  laying  broad  and  deep  the 
foundations  of  an  institution  which  was  subsequently 
to  be  developed  into  Jaffna  College,  when  the  failure 
of  Mrs.  Mills'  health  compelled  them  to  leave  the  field. 
They  embarked  for  their  native  land  December  2 1,1 853, 
and  spending  two  months  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope, 
reached  Boston  May  13,  1854.  He  had  the  happy  op- 
portunity of  attending  in  Williamstown  the  decennial 
meeting  of  his  class.  The  next  two  years  were  spent 
in  the  service  of  the  Board  in  travelling,  visiting,  and 
delivering  addresses  on  missionary  subjects.  Being 
prevented  by  his  wife's  health  from  returning  to  India, 
he  preached  three  months  in  Southbridge,  Massachu- 
setts, and  then  settled  in  Berkshire,  New  York.  Be- 
ing obliged  by  the  failure  of  his  own  health,  at  the  end 
of  two  years,  to  give  up  preaching,  he  spent  two  years 
in  Ware,  Massachusetts,  the  last  year  in  successful 
business.  On  the  recommendation  of  Dr.  Mark  Hop- 
kins, he  was  appointed  President  of  Oahu  College, 
Sandwich  Islands,  to  succeed  Rev.  Dr.  E.  G.  Beckwith 
(Williams  1849).  He  sailed  for  that  field  in  1860. 
As  his  health  was  only  partially  restored,  and  gradu- 
ally failed  after  he  reached  the  Islands,  he  was  obliged, 
after  four  years,  to  relinquish  what  he  considered  a  very 
interesting  and  useful  field  of  labor,  and  returned  home. 
He  then  took  up  his  residence  at  Benicia,  California, 
where  he  purchased  Miss  Atkins'  School,  with  which  he 

[283] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

was  connected  seven  years.  Having  purchased  land  in 
Oakland  that  rapidly  increased  in  value,  and  friends  of 
education  making  generous  donations  for  the  purpose, 
he  decided  to  erect  buildings  there,  and  in  1871  he  re- 
opened the  seminary  in  Oakland.  He  made  additions 
of  buildings  and  improvements,  till  by  his  wise  finan- 
cial management  the  school  property  increased  to  the 
value  of  $275,000.  The  grounds  around  the  seminary 
comprised  about  eighty  acres  in  fine  cultivation.  The 
pupils  were  drawn  from  all  the  Pacific  Coast  and  from 
the  islands  of  the  sea,  and  were  of  all  Protestant  denom- 
inations, as  well  as  Jews,  Catholics,  and  infidels.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Mills  rightly  felt  that  they  were  still  doing 
something  of  missionary  work.  This  seminary  was 
really  the  great  and  worthy  work  of  their  lives.  At 
the  time  of  the  death  of  Mr.  Mills  the  school  had  nearly 
200  students  and  had  sent  forth  nearly  300  graduates. 
In  1877  the  seminary  was  incorporated  and  all  the 
property  deeded  by  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Mills  to  a  Board  of 
Trustees  to  be  held  forever  for  the  cause  of  Christian 
education. 

Mr.  Mills  died  at  the  seminary  April  20,  1884,  and 
was  buried  in  the  beautiful  grounds  where  he  had 
planned  to  build  a  cottage  and  spend  his  remaining 
days.  Among  the  trustees  of  the  seminary  who  took 
part  in  the  funeral  services  were  two  Williams  College 
graduates,  Rev.  Dr.  E.  G.  Beckwith  of  the  class  of 
1849  and  Rev.  R.  L.  Tabor  of  the  class  of  1869,  the 
latter  preaching  the  sermon. 

The  following  account  of  Dr.  Mills'  final  illness 
and  death  is  given  by  the  Occident:  "The  final  illness 
of  Dr.  Mills  was  largely  the  result  of  overwork.  The 
dregs  of  the  disease  contracted  in  India  had  never  been 
eradicated.  Shortly  before  his  death  he  remarked  to 
a  friend  that  he  had  not  been  free  from  pain  for  thirty- 
five  years.  About  two  months  ago  his  right  arm  began 

[  284  ] 


Biographical  Sketches 

to  give  him  slight  trouble.  At  first  he  paid  little  at- 
tention to  it  but  it  soon  became  evident  that  the 
matter  was  serious.  The  best  of  medical  help  was 
summoned  and  amputation  was  determined  to  be  nec- 
essary. He  was  perfectly  tranquil  and  resigned  say- 
ing to  his  physician,  'I  cannot  think  now  but  I  can  trust/ 
After  it  was  all  over  he  seemed  to  rally  but  it  was  only 
the  bright  flash  before  the  final  going  and  gently  and 
calmly  as  he  had  lived  his  patient  spirit  took  its  heavenly 
flight." 

The  trustees  of  the  seminary  spoke  of  his  "noble 
devotion"  and  "unselfish  generosity,"  and  passed  the 
following  resolution:  "We  hereby  record  our  appre- 
ciation of  the  true  Christian  character  and  manliness  of 
our  deceased  friend.  Associated  with  him  in  our  offi- 
cial relations  we  bear  testimony  to  the  wisdom  of  his 
counsels,  the  soundness  of  his  judgment,  his  financial 
skill,  his  clear  foresight,  his  genial  manners,  his  earnest 
purpose  and  his  transparent  rectitude." 

The  Presbytery  of  San  Francisco  bore  testimony 
to  his  useful  life  in  the  "active  work  of  the  ministry 
in  both  the  home  and  foreign  fields  of  the  Church, 
and  an  honored  career  in  the  grand  work  of  woman's 
education." 

Dr.  Mills  received  the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor 
of  Divinity  from  his  Alma  Mater  in  1870. 

The  following  letter  was  written  July  11,  1911,  by 
Dr.  Calvin  C.  Halsey,  of  Montrose,  Pennsylvania, 
one  of  the  two  surviving  members  of  the  class  of 
1844. 

"Mr.  Mills  at  the  age  of  twenty-one  years  entered 
Williams  College  in  the  fall  of  1840,  and  graduated  in 
the  class  of  1844. 

"He  taught  school  during  the  long  vacations,  and 
was  steward  of  boarding  clubs  to  help  pay  his  way 
through  college.  He  was  diligent  in  the  improvement 

[285] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

of  his  time  and  maintained  a  high  standing  in  his  class. 
Throughout  all  his  college  life  he  exerted  a  marked  in- 
fluence for  the  cause  of  Christ  and  the  extension  of  his 
kingdom. 

"Sometime  during  his  college  course,  Rev.  Henry 
R.  Hoisington  of  the  class  of  1828,  visited  the  college 
and  told  the  students  about  missionary  work  in  India. 
Mr.  Mills  was  deeply  interested  in  this  and  at  once 
commenced  the  study  of  the  Tamil  language  in  order 
to  prepare  himself  for  work  in  that  field.  He  sailed 
as  missionary  of  the  American  Board  to  Ceylon  in 
1848  and  remained  until  December,  1853,  when  he  was 
obliged  to  return  to  this  country  on  account  of  his 
health.  Few  alumni  of  Williams  College  have  accom- 
plished more  good  than  he.  For  thirty-one  years  he 
lectured  on  Missions,  preached,  and  taught. 

"He  was  president  of  Oahu  College  about  three 
years.  He  founded  Mills  Seminary  and  College  in 
California  and  was  president  of  the  same  until  his 
death,  April  20,  1884.  A  leading  San  Francisco  paper 
said  of  him :  'He  had  done  more  for  education  in  Cal- 
ifornia than  any  other  individual  in  the  history  of  the 
State.  When  he  died  he  left  something  behind  him. 
Money,  in  his  view,  was  desirable  as  a  means  of  doing 
good.  He  founded  an  institution  of  learning,  gave  to 
it  the  greater  part  of  his  fortune  and  then  put  it  in  the 
hands  of  trustees  for  the  benefit  of  the  public.  He  un- 
consciously built  his  own  monument/  ' 

Mr.  Mills  was  married  September  11,  1848,  to 
Miss  Susan  Lincoln  Tolman,  of  Ware,  Massachusetts, 
a  graduate  of  Mount  Holyoke  Seminary,  in  the  class 
of  1845.  After  the  death  of  Dr.  Mills,  Mrs.  Mills  took 
full  charge  of  the  seminary,  and,  feeling  that  it  should 
be  expanded  into  a  college,  in  1885  secured  from  the 
State  a  charter.  Mrs.  Mills  not  only  supervised  all 
the  details  of  the  management  of  the  college,  but  also 

[286] 


Biographical  Sketches 

took  a  vital  interest  in  every  student  who  came  to  the 
college. 

She  died  in  1912.  After  her  death  it  was  written 
of  her:  "Many  a  girl  who  would  have  been  unable  to 
secure  a  college  education  otherwise,  succeeded  because 
of  the  personal  influence  which  Mrs.  Mills  exercised. 
Her  great  desire  that  the  women  who  went  out  from 
Mills  College  should  be  good  students,  true  women,  and 
strong  Christians  showed  itself  in  untiring  action  to 
accomplish  that  purpose.  Hers  was  a  life  of  great 
human  influence  and  of  noble  service." 

DAVID  ROOD  was  born  in  Buckland,  Massachusetts, 
April  25,  1818,  being  the  son  of  James  and  Abigail 
Rood.  In  1827  he  went  from  there  with  his  parents  to 
live  in  Plainfield,  Massachusetts.  He  came  of  genuine 
Puritan  stock,  and  was  of  most  worthy,  though  humble 
parentage,  his  mother  being  a  woman  of  rare  excellence 
of  character.  His  youth  was  passed  on  a  farm;  a 
strong  constitution,  rugged  health,  and  a  good  char- 
acter were  the  valued  possessions  of  these  years.  He 
made  a  profession  of  religion  at  the  age  of  twenty.  He 
fitted  for  college  in  Buckland,  with  Whiting  Griswold, 
Esq.,  and  entered  Williams  as  a  Freshman  in  1840. 
He  became  a  member  of  the  Philologian  Society.  It 
is  related  that  during  Freshman  year  he  cared  for  the 
recitation  room  and  boarded  himself,  and  that  subse- 
quently he  became  a  steward  of  boarding  clubs  to  help 
pay  expenses.  Dr.  Calvin  C.  Halsey,  one  of  his  two 
surviving  classmates,  writes  of  him:  "He  was  a  very 
plain,  unassuming  man,  but  in  dead  earnest  to  get  an 
education.  He  desired  an  education  that  he  might  be 
useful  in  the  world.  He  maintained  a  good  standing 
in  scholarship  and  had  the  respect  of  all  who  knew  him 
in  college.  He  led  an  active  Christian  life,  and  it  was 
the  natural  thing  that  after  his  graduation  he  should 

[287] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

study  for  the  ministry  and  become  a  foreign  mission- 
ary." He  received  the  appointment  of  an  Oration,  and 
was  one  of  the  speakers  at  Commencement,  August  21, 
1844,  the  subject  of  his  address  being  "The  Christian 
Student."  After  graduation,  he  studied  theology  at 
the  East  Windsor  Seminary,  completing  the  course  in 
1847.  He  is  said  to  have  paid  his  way  through  the  sem- 
inary, as  he  had  done  through  college. 

His  mind  developed  very  much  during  his  seminary 
course,  and  he  became  a  most  acceptable  preacher,  so 
that  he  could  have  commanded  desirable  positions  as  a 
pastor  in  this  country,  had  he  not  decided  to  be  a  mis- 
sionary. Just  when,  or  by  what  particular  influence, 
he  chose  his  life  work  is  not  related.  It  is  to  be  remem- 
bered, however,  that  he  was  in  college  in  a  time  when 
there  was  more  or  less  of  enthusiasm  for  mission  work ; 
fifteen  of  his  college  mates  going  as  foreign  missiona- 
ries, three  of  these, — Jacob  Best,  Joshua  Edwards  Ford, 
and  Cyrus  Taggart  Mills, — being  members  of  his  own 
class.  He  was  ordained  as  a  missionary  in  Plainfield, 
October  6,  1847,  and  sailed  from  Boston  for  South  Af- 
rica on  the  28th  of  the  same  month.  He  was,  at  first, 
stationed  for  three  years  at  If afa  among  the  Zulus.  His 
principal  work  was  done  at  Amanzimtoti,  where  he 
spent  seventeen  years,  and  at  Umvoti,  where  he  spent 
twenty  years.  Thus,  with  the  exception  of  two  years 
of  rest  from  overwork  which  were  spent  in  America, 
he  rounded  out  forty  years'  faithful  service  under  the 
auspices  of  the  American  Board. 

The  following  modest  account  of  the  nature  of  his 
work  is  taken  from  a  letter  which  he  wrote  to  the  class 
secretary  in  1884  on  the  occasion  of  the  fortieth  anni- 
versary of  his  graduation:  "My  life  has  been  a  busy  one, 
and  I  trust,  through  the  blessing  of  God,  has  produced 
some  good  work  among  the  Zulus.  I  have  been  favored 
with  a  good  degree  of  health  since  my  visit  to  America 

[288] 


Biographical  Sketches 

in  1860-61.  I  feel  entirely  at  home  among  the  people, 
and  am  happy  in  my  work.  My  duties  are  in  various 
lines,  requiring  versatility  of  talent.  First  and  greatest 
of  all,  is  the  trying  to  fulfil  the  last  and  great  com- 
mand of  our  Master.  And  besides  preaching  to  con- 
gregations, I  often  visit  the  people  at  out-stations  and 
also  in  their  kraals,  and  have  the  oversight  of  native 
preachers  and  teachers  with  whom  we  hold  conferences 
and  institutes.  We  have  classes  for  Sunday-school 
teachers  and  candidates  for  admission  to  the  church.  I 
have  to  look  after  the  schools,  and  have  done  something 
in  preparing  school-books.  I  am  also  doctor  for  the 
sick,  and  am  often  called  upon  to  calm  and  harmonize 
discordant  elements  among  an  excitable  people. 

"I  have  for  many  years  been  the  senior  member  of 
our  mission,  and  held  the  position  of  chairman.  With 
one  exception,  I  am  the  senior  clergyman  in  the  colony, 
the  number  of  whom  is  about  seventy-five.  I  was  made 
the  first  chairman  of  the  Congregational  Union,  which 
was  formed  last  year,  consisting  of  English  ministers 
and  missionaries. 

"We  are  trying  to  lay  good  foundations  for  the 
building  up  of  Christ's  Kingdom  among  the  Zulus.  By 
preaching  the  gospel,  organizing  churches,  giving  the 
people  the  Bible  in  their  own  tongue,  establishing 
schools,  creating  a  literature,  we  hope  to  raise  up  com- 
munities that  shall  not  only  be  lights  among  the  many 
thousands  who  are  in  darkness,  but  shall  be  aggressive 
and  help  carry  the  blessings  of  the  gospel  to  those  of 
their  own  race." 

About  four  years  after  the  writing  of  this  letter,  in 
1888,  he  returned  to  the  United  States,  and  deeming  it 
unwise,  at  his  advanced  age,  to  resume  his  labors,  he 
took  up  his  residence  with  some  of  his  brothers  at  Co- 
vert, Michigan.  Here  he  continued  his  mission  work, 
revising  the  New  Testament  in  Zulu  for  a  new  edition, 

[289] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

addressing  churches  in  behalf  of  missions,  and  making 
himself  useful  in  many  ways,  especially  among  the 
young,  till  he  died  from  an  attack  of  paralysis,  April 
8,  1891. 

In  estimating  the  importance  of  the  work  done  by 
Mr.  Rood,  we  must  remember  that  when  he  arrived  in 
Natal  it  was  but  twelve  years  after  the  mission  was  first 
started,  and  that  in  1835,  when  the  American  mission- 
aries first  arrived  there,  the  country  was  described 
as  a  "howling  wilderness,"  having,  as  it  was  believed, 
not  more  than  3000  native  inhabitants.  Before  he  died, 
Amanzimtoti,  where  he  labored  so  long,  came  to  have 
nearly  half  a  million  inhabitants,  chiefly  of  Zulu  origin, 
with  some  natives  of  India  and  Europeans,  and  the 
Zulu  Mission  had  near  a  score  of  churches  and  150 
laborers. 

Mr.  Rood  early  acquired  a  familiarity  with  the  Zulu 
language,  having  a  superior  knowledge  of  its  idioms, 
and  could  preach  in  it  more  fluently  than  in  English. 
While  he  excelled  as  a  preacher  and  spiritual  adviser, 
he  was  thorough  and  skilful  in  the  work  of  translation 
and  in  preparing  books  for  schools. 

Rev.  Lewis  Grout,  one  of  his  associates  in  the  Zulu 
Mission,  wrote  of  him  after  his  death:  "Mr.  Rood  had 
the  esteem  and  confidence  of  the  natives,  who  called  him 
'Baba'  (Father)  ;  he  was  held  in  honor  by  the  colonists 
of  all  classes  and  professions ;  upon  his  sympathy,  coun- 
sel and  character  his  associates  in  mission  work  put  a 
high  estimate.  He  was  gentle,  quiet,  modest,  winning 
in  his  ways;  yet  strong,  courageous,  earnest,  confident 
in  his  work,  assured  that  it  was  of  God,  who  would 
make  it  prosper  and  prevail." 

Mr.  Rood  was  married  at  Plainfield,  October  3, 
1847,  to  Alzina  V.  Pixley,  daughter  of  Noah  and  Han- 
nah (Shaw)  Pixley,  and  sister  of  his  classmate,  Martin 
Shaw  Pixley,  and  of  Stephen  Clapp  Pixley  (Williams 

[290] 


Biographical  Sketches 

1852).  She  was  a  graduate  of  Mount  Holyoke  Semi- 
nary. Mrs.  Rood  embarked  with  her  husband  shortly 
after  their  marriage,  and  was  his  faithful  helper  during 
all  his  long  period  of  service.  She  with  two  children,  a 
daughter  and  son,  survived  her  husband.  She  died  at 
Lakewood,  New,  Jersey,  March  10,  1901.  The  daugh- 
ter, Sarah  Aurelia,  was  graduated  at  Abbot  Academy, 
Andover;  the  son,  Henry  Martyn,  was  graduated  at 
Yale  in  1877. 

Mr.  Rood  published  "Talks  on  the  Works  of  Na- 
ture"; "Primary  Geography";  "Primary  Arithmetic." 
He  also  translated  several  editions  of  a  Hymn-book, 
and  a  portion  of  the  Scriptures  into  the  Zulu  language. 


CLASS  OF  1845 

STEPHEN  BUSH,  son  of  Orry  and  Fanny  (Goold) 
Bush,  was  born  May  30,  1818,  in  East  Nassau,  Rensse- 
laer  County,  New  York.  He  was  the  grandson  of  Ma- 
jor Abijah  and  Mary  (Callinder)  Bush,  and  of  David 
and  Rebecca  (Granger)  Goold.  On  his  father's  side, 
Stephen  Bush  was  descended  from  one  of  two  brothers, 
John  and  Samuel  Bush,  who  came  from  Scotland  and 
settled  near  Boston,  probably  between  1635  and  1650. 
On  his  mother's  side  he  was  of  English  descent.  His 
grandfather,  Abijah  Bush,  who  lived  to  be  92  years 
of  age,  was  a  major  in  the  Revolutionary  War.  He 
and  his  son,  Orry,  were  active  in  the  affairs  of  the 
church  and  town.  Orry  Bush,  who  was  a  farmer  by 
occupation,  was  a  Quartermaster  in  the  War  of  1812. 

Stephen  Bush  united  with  the  Second  Presbyterian 
Church  of  Albany,  New  York,  at  the  age  of  fifteen. 
He  seems  to  have  pursued  his  studies  preparatory  for 
college  in  part  in  Professor  Charles  Anthony's  Pre- 
paratory School  in  Albany,  New  York,  and  in  part 
under  Professor  Thomas  H.  Hall,  in  Worthington, 

[291] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

Massachusetts.  Before  entering  college  he  learned  in 
Albany  the  business  of  carriage  making.  During  this 
time  he  was  very  active  in  religious  work,  teaching  Sun- 
day-school four  sessions  every  Sabbath,  some  of  this 
teaching  being  done  at  the  poorhouse  and  at  the  Col- 
ored Church.  He  also  helped  to  found  the  Albany 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association.  Having  acquired 
a  few  hundred  dollars  by  his  trade  and  teaching  school, 
he  entered  Williams  in  1842,  where  he  spent  his  Fresh- 
man and  Sophomore  years,  completing  his  course  at 
Union  College,  where  he  was  graduated  in  1845.  At 
Williams  he  was  a  member  of  the  Mills  Theological  So- 
ciety and  the  Philotechnian  Society.  At  Union  he 
joined  the  Adelphics.  He  studied  theology  at  Prince- 
ton Seminary,  taking  the  full  three  years'  course  and 
graduating  in  1848.  He  had  been  licensed  by  the  Pres- 
bytery of  Albany,  October  14, 1847,  and  having  decided 
to  devote  himself  to  the  work  of  foreign  missions,  he  was 
ordained  as  an  evangelist,  by  the  same  Presbytery, 
June  28,  1848.  On  September  12,  of  the  same  year, 
he  sailed  for  Siam,  and  was  stationed  at  Bangkok.  He 
was  welcomed  by  the  royal  heir,  and  the  two  remained 
firm  friends  for  life.  Mr.  Bush's  colleagues  at  Bang- 
kok were  Drs.  Lane  and  Bradley,  the  latter  of  whom 
died  in  the  field;  Dr.  Stephen  Mattoon,  who  was  sub- 
sequently President  of  Biddle  University;  and  Dr.  and 
Mrs.  Samuel  R.  House,  who  brought  to  this  country 
Boon-Itt  and  another  Siamese  youth,  and  who  spent 
their  last  years  at  Waterford,  New  York. 

Although  Mr.  Bush  was  compelled  by  ill  health  to 
return  to  this  country  in  1852,  after  a  service  of  but 
little  more  than  three  years,  the  three  years  were  a  pe- 
riod which  was  marked  by  great  disaster  relieved  by 
successes  of  the  mission.  Soon  after  the  arrival  of  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Bush  at  Siam,  and  while  they  were  engaged 
in  the  acquisition  of  the  language,  the  Asiatic  cholera 

[292  J 


Biographical  Sketches 

came  suddenly  upon  the  inhabitants  of  Bangkok,  carry- 
ing away  in  less  than  one  month  35,000,  or  about  one- 
tenth  of  the  population.  For  days  together,  when 
the  epidemic  was  at  its  height,  there  were  2000 
deaths  a  day  in  the  city  alone.  The  mission  fami- 
lies, however,  were  graciously  permitted  to  abide  in 
safety. 

On  August  29,  1849,  the  first  Presbyterian  church 
in  Siam  was  organized,  and  it  soon  became  necessary 
that  the  mission  should  have  a  home  of  its  own,  all  pre- 
vious attempts  to  obtain  one  having  failed.  But  when 
about  this  time  Prince  Chow  Fah  Mongkut  was  placed 
on  the  throne  by  the  concurrent  voice  of  the  grand  coun- 
cil of  princes  and  nobles,  Siam  entered  upon  a  new  era 
in  her  history,  and  the  prospects  of  the  missionaries  be- 
came bright.  As  the  sovereign  was  known  to  be  per- 
sonally friendly  to  the  missionaries,  they  were  treated 
with  respect  by  all  classes,  and  their  message  every- 
where received  a  cordial  hearing.  Indeed,  on  the  day  of 
coronation,  the  missionaries  had  been  invited  to  the  pal- 
ace, and  assured  that  they  should  be  unmolested  in  their 
work.  The  mission  now  obtained  what  it  had  for  many 
years  sought  in  vain,  an  eligible  location,  which  was  now 
tendered  them  near  the  center  of  the  city  and  not  far 
below  the  palace.  The  following  extract  from  Siam 
and  Laos,  published  by  the  Presbyterian  Board  of  Pub- 
lication, gives  some  account  of  Mr.  Bush's  work  in  the 
mission.  "As  soon  as  the  rains  were  over  and  possession 
was  given  of  their  new  premises,  Messrs.  Mattoon  and 
Bush  proceeded  to  inclose  the  ground,  dig  trenches  for 
the  foundation,  purchase  rafts  of  teak-wood  logs  and 
superintend  their  sawing  by  hand  into  the  timber  and 
planks  required  to  put  up  two  plain  but  convenient 
brick  dwelling  houses.  Mr.  Bush's  experience  and 
practical  skill  were  proved  of  great  value.  Before  the 
rains  fairly  set  in,  early  in  June,  one  house  was  finished, 

[  29*:] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

and  Mrs.  Mattoon  and  family  removed  into  it  from  the 
floating  house  on  the  river,  lent  to  them  by  a  friendly 
prince,  which  had  been  their  temporary  home  while  the 
new  building  was  going  up.  They  had  found  it  not  an 
undesirable  residence,  though  one  memorable  dark 
night,  having  been  detached  from  its  moorings  that  it 
might  slip  away  from  a  fire  that  was  raging  on  a  river 
bank  near,  through  the  carelessness  of  a  servant  it  got 
adrift  and  carried  its  inmates  off  against  their  will, 
with  a  rapid  tide,  seven  or  eight  miles  down  the  river 
before  its  progress  could  be  averted.  The  truant  dwell- 
ing, however,  with  all  its  contents  undisturbed,  with  the 
turn  of  the  tide  was  brought  back  to  its  old  moorings 
safe  and  sound. 

"The  other  dwelling  house  was  soon  completed  and 
occupied.  The  mission  having  now  a  home  of  its  own 
and  ample  room,  in  October,  1852,  a  boarding-school 
for  Siamo-Chinese  boys  was  opened,  and  Quakieng, 
who  was  an  experienced  Chinese  teacher,  put  in  charge, 
— the  free  tuition  the  lads  would  receive  half  of  each 
day  in  their  father-tongue  being,  as  was  hoped,  an  in- 
ducement that  would  attract  such  pupils  within  the 
reach  of  Christian  instruction." 

In  December,  1852,  Mr.  Bush  was  compelled  by  ill 
health  to  return  to  the  United  States.  Soon  after  his 
return,  he  became,  April  15,  1853,  stated  supply  of  a 
church  in  Cohoes,  New  York,  and  on  February  1,  1855, 
he  was  installed  pastor  of  the  same,  remaining  in  this 
pastorate  until  April  13,  1860.  From  May  7,  1863,  to 
November  18,  1865,  he  was  pastor  at  Greenbush,  New 
York;  from  June  10,  1868,  to  February  21,  1871,  he 
was  stated  supply  at  Green  Island,  New  York;  and 
from  the  latter  date  till  July  22,  1874,  he  was  pastor  of 
the  same  church.  He-then  removed  to  Waterford,  New 
York,  where  he  continued  to  preach  as  occasion  offered, 
and  where  he  resided  until  his  death.  He  died  suddenly 

[294J 


Biographical  Sketches 

of  heart  failure,  July  15,  1896,  in  the  79th  year  of  his 
age,  leaving  a  widow  and  son. 

In  the  interim  between  the  pastorates  at  Greenbush 
and  Green  Island,  Dr.  Bush  visited  Europe.  In  1874 
he  was  a  Commissioner  to  the  General  Assembly  at  St. 
Louis. 

Maryville  College,  Tennessee,  conferred  on  him  the 
honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity  in  1880. 

On  June  29,  1848,  he  was  married  at  Albany,  New 
York,  to  Miss  Annabella  Fassett,  daughter  of  Timothy 
and  Mary  Fassett.  She  died  at  Bangkok,  Siam,  July 
23,  1851.  He  next  married,  on  February  18,  1855,  at 
Cohoes,  Miss  Jane  Hall,  adopted  daughter  of  Joshua 
Bailey.  She  survived  him,  dying  at  Troy,  New  York, 
August  4,  1911. 

WILLIAM  WOODBRIDGE  EDDY,  son  of  Rev.  Dr. 
Chauncey  and  Julia  M.  ( Woodbridge)  Eddy,  was  born 
at  Penn  Yan,  New  York,  December  18,  1825.  The 
father  was  settled  as  a  Presbyterian  minister  in  that 
place ;  the  mother  was  from  Hartford,  Connecticut.  The 
immigrant  ancestor  of  the  Eddy  family  was  Rev.  John 
Eddy,  who  came  in  the  ship  Mary  and  John  in  1637, 
and  settled  in  Newbury,  Massachusetts.  Young  Eddy 
was  reared  by  parents  whose  marked  characteristics 
were  piety  and  benevolence.  He  prepared  for  college 
along  with  Charles  A.  Davison,  who  became  his  class- 
mate at  Williams,  under  Rev.  Dr.  Chester  of  Saratoga 
Springs,  New  York.  He  entered  college  as  a  Sopho- 
more in  1842. 

The  class  of  1845  was  particularly  distinguished  for 
furnishing  four  foreign  missionaries  and  for  having  for 
one  of  its  members  William  Dwight  Whitney.  The 
class  has  now  no  living  member,  the  last  two  surviving 
members — Robert  W.  Adam  and  George  L.  Squier — 
having  died  in  1913. 

[295] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

In  college,  Mr.  Eddy  was  a  Philologian  and  also  a 
member  of  the  Anti-Secret  Society,  then  known  as  the 
"Social  Fraternity."  He  had  a  part  in  the  Junior  Ex- 
hibition, when  his  subject  was  "Man,"  and  at  Com- 
mencement, when  he  spoke  on  "The  Interpretation  of 
Nature." 

After  graduation,  he  taught  for  two  years  in  Jack- 
sonville, Illinois,  and  then  entered  Union  Theological 
Seminary,  where  he  studied  for  three  years,  taking  at 
the  same  time  a  partial  course  in  medicine.  After  grad- 
uating from  the  seminary,  he  spent  about  a  year  and  a 
half  supplying  churches  in  Jersey  City,  Newark,  Hart- 
ford, Norwich,  and  Boston.  He  was  ordained  by  the 
Presbytery  of  Newark,  September  18,  1851.  In  No- 
vember of  the  same  year  he  sailed  with  his  wife,  under 
appointment  as  a  missionary  of  the  American  Board, 
for  Syria,  where  he  spent  the  rest  of  his  life,  living  four 
years  in  Aleppo,  over  twenty  at  Sidon,  and  the  rest  in 
Beirut,  rounding  out  forty-eight  years  in  missionary 
service.  Twenty-eight  years  before  his  sailing,  his  par- 
ents had  been  appointed  as  missionaries  for  Syria,  but 
had  been  prevented  from  carrying  out  their  purpose. 
It  was  perhaps  in  answer  to  their  prayers  that  a  son 
went  as  a  substitute  to  the  same  field.  Both  in  Aleppo 
and  in  Sidon  Mr.  Eddy  was  associated  with  Rev.  J.  E. 
Ford  (Williams  1844) ,  who  had  been  one  of  his  college 
mates.  These  two  brethren  not  only  organized  the 
churches  of  Sidon  and  many  surrounding  towns,  but 
established  a  seminary  for  girls  and  several  schools, 
which  are  still  exerting  a  wide  influence  in  all  that 
region. 

In  1870,  the  Syrian  Mission  was  transferred  to  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  and  Dr.  Eddy  wrote  concerning 
the  transfer  to  the  Missionary  Herald:  "In  name  the 
partnership  between  us  will  cease.  We  shall  no  longer 
be  known  as  missionaries  of  the  American  Board,  our 


Biographical  Sketches 

formal  relations  to  the  Congregational  Churches,  to  the 
Prudential  Committee,  to  the  Secretary,  will  be  dis- 
solved, .  .  .  Yet  there  will  remain  that  which  cannot 
be  divided.  It  is  impossible  that  the  partnership  be 
wholly  dissolved. 

"There  are  the  results  of  labors  hitherto  put  forth — 
the  converts  gathered  into  the  churches,  the  communi- 
ties of  Protestants  formed,  the  schools  established,  the 
books  printed,  the  knowledge  diffused,  the  prejudices 
broken,  the  broad,  deep  foundations  laid  of  civilization, 
science,  and  religion  during  forty-eight  years  of  labor. 
Will  not  the  partnership  of  the  Board  in  these  results 
still  continue?  And  if  it  sought  to  do  so,  how  would 
it  be  able  to  release  itself  from  the  love  and  gratitude 
of  those  enlightened  and  saved  by  its  instrumentality? 

"There  are  sheaves  garnered  in  heaven.  There  are 
martyrs  there  from  Syria,  young  believers,  matured 
saints,  teachers,  preachers,  whose  lamps  of  life  were 
lighted  through  the  instrumentality  of  your  society  ere 
they  entered  the  dark  valley.  These  gathered  fruits,  to 
whom,  of  right,  will  they  still  belong? 

"There  are  precious  memories  of  the  dead — of  mis- 
sionaries of  the  American  Board  who  died  in  Syria  or 
who  went  home  to  die, — Parsons,  Hebard,  Dodge, 
Smith,  Whiting,  DeForest,  Ford,  and  others.  Their 
memories  are  a  blessed  heritage,  their  examples  a  liv- 
ing power,  their  graves  a  solemn  trust.  We  that  are 
living  may  sign  away  our  connection  with  the  Board, 
but  who  is  authorized  to  sign  away  the  connection  for 
the  dead?" 

In  1878,  Dr.  Eddy  was  called  from  Sidon  to 
be  an  instructor  in  the  Theological  Seminary  at  Beirut, 
and  to  do  pastoral  and  editorial  work  in  that  city.  Be- 
sides discharging  these  various  duties  he  did  much 
itinerating  and  preached  every  Sunday  in  the  native 
language. 

.[297  ] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

Twice  only  during  the  nearly  half  century  of  serv- 
ice in  a  foreign  field  did  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Eddy  visit  their 
native  land,  in  1860-63  and  1874-75. 

In  a  letter  addressed  to  his  classmates  on  the  occa- 
sion of  the  fortieth  anniversary  of  their  graduation,  Dr. 
Eddy  wrote:  "My  health  has  been  generally  pretty 
good.  I  have  enjoyed  my  work.  If  I  had  life  to  be- 
gin over  again,  I  should  choose  the  same  profession,  and 
enter  into  the  same  service." 

He  died  at  Beirut,  Syria,  January  26,  1900.  Dr. 
H.  H.  Jessup  has  written  of  him:  "His  bedchamber 
was  peace.  His  mind  retained  its  great  vigor  and  ac- 
tivity to  the  last.  All  the  members  of  the  mission  were 
present  at  his  funeral,  having  come  by  sea  and  land, 
and  all,  excepting  his  son  and  son-in-law,  took  part, 
with  the  Syrian  pastors,  in  the  funeral  service,  which 
was  attended  by  a  great  concourse  of  natives  and  for- 
eigners, with  students  of  the  college  and  the  American, 
English,  and  German  boarding-schools.  The  pall- 
bearers were  eight  American  and  English  young  men 
and  eight  Syrian  brethren.  The  Arabic  address  was  by 
H.  H.  Jessup  and  the  English  by  Dr.  George  A.  Ford." 

At  the  time  of  the  death  of  Dr.  Eddy,  the  editor  of 
the  Evangelist  wrote:  "Dr.  and  Mrs.  Eddy  have 
been  among  our  most  laborious  and  useful  missionaries. 
For  nearly  half  a  century  they  have  stood  in  their  place 
and  faithfully  done  their  work,  exerting  an  influence 
which  has  been  widely  extended  and  which  has  been 
signally  owned  and  greatly  blessed  of  God  in  the  en- 
lightening and  salvation  of  many  souls  and  in  the 
organization  of  agencies  and  in  the  founding  of  institu- 
tions which  shall  long  live  to  bless  that  land  of  such 
special  interest  to  the  Christian  Church.  Mrs.  Eddy 
and  four  children  still  remain  in  Syria.  What  an  ag- 
gregate of  Christian  service  and  what  blessings  has  this 
one  family  given  to  the  benighted  people  of  Syria! 

[298] 


Biographical  Sketches 

The  fidelity  and  the  heroism  of  such  service  are  an  in- 
spiration to  all  who  know  the  record.  Such  a  noble 
career  and  work  as  that  of  our  brother,  Dr.  Eddy,  seem 
to  invest  life  with  a  new  significance  and  value,  open- 
ing and  suggesting  the  larger  opportunities  and  pos- 
sibilities, and  commending  the  missionary  field  not  only 
as  the  arena  of  the  grandest  and  noblest  heroism,  but  as 
well  the  field  of  the  highest  type  of  a  truly  ennobled 
and  consecrated  service." 

In  1862  New  York  University  conferred  on  him 
the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity. 

On  the  24th  of  November,  1851,  Dr.  Eddy  married 
Hannah  Maria  Condit,  daughter  of  Rev.  Dr.  Robert 
Condit,  for  a  long  time  pastor  of  the  First  Presbyte- 
rian Church  in  Oswego,  New  York.  She  was  educated 
at  Mount  Holyoke  Seminary,  where  she  was  graduated 
in  1846,  and  was  the  first  graduate  from  that  institu- 
tion to  go  to  Syria.  She  survived  her  husband,  dying 
April  14,  1904.  Dr.  H.  H.  Jessup  writes  of  her: 
"She  was  a  woman  of  great  strength  of  character,  a 
strong  will  and  wonderful  energy,  which  traits  are  per- 
petuated in  her  descendants." 

There  were  born  to  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Eddy  six  chil- 
dren. The  oldest  son,  William  King,  who  succeeded 
his  father  as  a  missionary  at  Sidon,  died  there  in  1906. 
The  oldest  daughter,  Mrs.  Harriet  Mollison  Hoskins, 
was,  for  a  time,  head  of  the  Female  Seminary  at  Sidon, 
and  is  now  doing  missionary  work  in  Beirut.  Robert 
Condit  Eddy,  the  only  member  of  the  family  now  in  the 
United  States,  is  a  practising  physician  in  New 
Rochelle,  New  York.  Dr.  Mary  Pierson  Eddy  is  em- 
inent as  a  missionary  physician  in  Syria,  being  the  first 
woman  to  secure  from  the  Turkish  authorities  a  diploma 
for  the  practice  of  medicine.  The  youngest  daughter 
is  Miss  Julia  Woodbridge  Eddy. 

It  may  be  interesting  to  note  in  this  connection,  that 

[299] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

a  grandson  of  Dr.  Eddy — William  Woodbridge  Eddy, 
3d — mailed  for  Syria  September  21,  1911,  to  become  a 
tutor  at  the  college  in  Beirut. 

Dr.  Eddy's  principal  published  work  was  a  Com- 
mentary on  the  New  Testament  in  Arabic,  in  five  oc- 
tavo volumes,  comprising  in  all  3033  pages,  published 
in  1899. 

JUSTIN  WRIGHT  PARSONS,  son  of  Orenzo  and  Rox- 
ana  Burt  (Bridgman)  Parsons,  was  of  Puritan  stock, 
and  was  born  at  Westhampton,  Massachusetts,  April 
26,  1824.  Both  his  parents  were  descendants  of 
Lieutenant  William  Clark,  one  of  the  seven  original 
settlers  of  the  town  of  Northampton,  from  which 
Westhampton  was  later  set  off.  He  was  thus  distantly 
related  to  Azariah  Clark  (Williams  1805),  and  the  son, 
Azariah  Sylvester  Clark  (Williams  1834),  who  was  one 
of  the  charter  members  of  the  Kappa  Alpha  Society 
in  Williams  College.  He  was  a  brother  of  Rev.  Eben- 
ezer  Burt  Parsons,  D.D.  (Williams  1859) ,  who  was  for 
many  years  necrologist  of  the  college  and  registrar  of 
the  faculty.  Mr.  Parsons'  father  was  a  woolen  manu- 
facturer. The  Parsons  family  have  been  settled  in  the 
region  of  Northampton  since  the  seventeenth  century, 
and  the  name  Justin,  also,  is  often  met  with  among  its 
members.  Soon  after  his  birth  the  parents  of  the  subject 
of  our  sketch  removed  to  Pittsfield,  Massachusetts, 
from  which  place  he  entered  college,  his  preparatory 
studies  being  pursued  partly  in  the  Hopkins  Academy 
at  Hadley,  and  partly  in  the  public  schools  of  Pitts- 
field.  The  class  secretary  wrote  of  him:  "He  was 
extremely  quiet  and  unassuming  in  manners,  but  of 
firm  and  decided  character,  standing  undauntedly  by 
everything  that  he  regarded  as  right,  faithful  to  all 
known  duties,  an  industrious  and  successful  scholar, 
and  of  the  most  thorough  amiability  of  disposition. 

[  300.] 


Biographical  Sketches 

Everyone  liked  him ;  that  he  should  have  an  enemy  was 
sheer  impossibility."  The  literary  annals  of  his  class 
are  said  to  have  begun  when  the  Sophomores  (class  of 
'44)  celebrated  July  4,  1842,  and  when,  according  to 
custom,  the  Declaration  of  Independence  was  read  by 
a  Freshman, — this  year  it  being  J.  W.  Parsons,  "prob- 
ably selected  as  the  smallest  man  in  the  class."  Mr. 
Parsons  was  a  member  of  the  Philologian  and  Kappa 
Alpha  Societies.  At  the  Adelphic  Union  Exhibition 
of  his  Sophomore  year,  he  was  one  of  the  speakers,  his 
subject  being  "The  Dying  Pauper."  He  was  also  one 
of  the  speakers  at  Commencement,  when  his  subject 
was  "Wasted  Passion."  The  class  of  1845  was  distin- 
guished for  giving  four  members  to  the  foreign  mission 
work  and  for  its  having  as  one  of  its  members  William 
Dwight  Whitney. 

On  graduation,  Mr.  Parsons  entered  Union  Theo- 
logical Seminary,  having  already  decided  to  be  a  mis- 
sionary. On  graduation  from  the  seminary,  he 
preached  for  a  year,  1848-49,  at  Hancock,  Massachu- 
setts. On  the  26th  of  December,  1849,  he  was  ordained 
as  a  foreign  missionary  by  the  Fourth  Presbytery  of 
New  York,  and  on  the  24th  of  April  following,  he  and 
his  wife  sailed  from  Boston  for  Smyrna,  being  destined 
for  Salonica,  which  they  reached  June  24.  He  labored 
in  this  place  about  three  years  and  about  the  same 
length  of  time  at  Smyrna, — at  both  places  among  the 
Jews ;  till  that  field  was  surrendered  by  the  Board  to  the 
Church  of  Scotland.  In  1856  he  was  transferred  to 
Bardezag,  where  he  spent  the  rest  of  his  life,  with  the 
exception  of  fourteen  years  (1858-72)  spent  at  Nico- 
media.  His  field  of  labor  included  a  large  part  of 
ancient  Bithynia,  east  from  Broosa  and  north  from 
Nicasa.  His  work  was  especially  that  of  superintend- 
ing preachers,  teachers,  and  colporteurs,  and  called  for 
almost  constant  journeyings.  In  1872,  accompanied 

[301] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

by  Mrs.  Parsons,  he  made  an  extensive  tour  among  the 
missions  of  Asia  Minor.  On  his  return,  he  removed 
again  to  Bardezag,  where,  with  the  aid  of  his  wife  and 
eldest  daughter,  he  opened  a  school  for  the  training  of 
native  girls  as  teachers.  The  school  was  very  success- 
ful, numbering  as  many  as  seventy  pupils.  He  also 
took  part  in  establishing  a  training  school  for  male 
teachers  and  preachers. 

The  variety  of  his  work  called  for  a  knowledge  of 
different  languages.  In  his  earlier  work  among  the 
Jews,  he  used  the  so-called  Hebrew- Spanish.  While 
the  language  especially  employed  by  him  in  preaching 
and  teaching  was  the  Armenian,  he  also  freely  used  the 
Turkish  as  there  was  occasion. 

For  thirty  years  of  almost  incessant  toil,  broken 
only  by  two  brief  visits  to  his  native  land,  he  wrought 
his  people  lasting  good.  He  was  fearless  and  untiring. 
One  wrote  of  him:  "He  never  spared  himself,  and 
was  always  at  work.  .  .  .  He  was  often  remonstrated 
with  for  taking  so  little  care  of  himself,  but  he  could 
never  be  persuaded  there  was  any  real  danger  in  his 
journeys.  As  for  the  hardships,  he  seldom  thought  of 
them.  .  .  .  Brave  enough  and  cool  enough  to  lead  an 
army,  he  carried  no  weapon  with  him  save  the  gospel 
of  peace,  and  with  this  he  had  successfully  disarmed, 
through  a  long  series  of  years,  all  the  opposition  he 
had  met." 

Besides  the  labor  of  teaching,  preaching,  journey- 
ing, and  superintending  he  had  frequent  occasion,  par- 
ticularly during  the  outbreak  of  cholera  in  the  region, 
to  make  use  of  the  medical  skill  he  had  acquired.  His 
unremitting  and  unsparing  exertions  and  frequent  ex- 
posure had  begun  to  undermine  his  health,  and  he  suf- 
fered much  from  fever.  A  few  months  before  his 
death,  he  wrote:  "I  am  having  fever  and  ague. 
Every  other  day  I  shake  with  cold  three  hours,  burn 

[  302] 


Biographical  Sketches 

with  fever  six  hours,  and  then  go  into  perspiration  ancl 
a  troubled  sleep.  The  whole  region  is  malarious.  I 
am  fifty-six  years  old,  and  from  the  experiences  of  the 
past  month  feel  that  it  may  not  take  much  to  carry  me 
off.  I  shall  try  to  be  more  careful.  Heretofore  I  have 
eaten  anything  or  nothing,  slept  upon  the  ground,  faced 
cold  or  storms." 

It  is  related  that  on  the  Sunday  before  his  death,  it 
being  communion  Sunday,  he,  then  being  ill  with  fever, 
expressed  the  conviction  that  he  might  not  live  long. 
Death  came  to  him  sooner  than  he  expected,  probably, 
and  in  a  different  way.  On  July  28,  1880,  on  his  re- 
turn toward  home  from  a  tour  of  missionary  visitation, 
accompanied  by  a  native  helper,  he  stopped  for  the 
night,  in  the  open  air,  on  the  mountain  road  between 
Nice  and  Bardezag.  Here  they  were  found  asleep  by 
three  Yuruks,  who  assailed  and  killed  them  for  the  pur- 
pose of  robbing  them.  Owing  to  the  most  energetic 
measures  taken  by  the  American  Government,  the 
Turkish  authorities  found  the  murderers,  who  freely 
confessed  their  crime,  exculpating  themselves  on  the 
ground  that  the  victims  were  Christians.  The  leader 
of  the  murderers  was  condemned  to  death  by  hanging, 
and  the  other  two  to  fifteen  years'  imprisonment. 

The  scene  at  the  funeral  of  Dr.  Parsons  bore  strik- 
ing witness  to  the  power  of  the  man  and  to  the  success 
of  his  work.  In  a  region  where  a  few  years  before  the 
missionaries  had  been  hooted  and  stoned,  there  was  at 
his  funeral  an  outpouring  of  the  whole  population. 
The  immense  crowd  listened  with  tears  to  the  words  of 
eulogy  spoken  by  native  Christians.  The  vicar  of  the 
Armenian  Patriarch,  a  native  of  Bardezag,  was  pres- 
ent from  Constantinople,  and  made  an  address,  bear- 
ing testimony,  after  a  friendship  of  twenty  years,  to 
his  "spotless  life." 

Mr.  Parsons  received  the  honorary  degree  of  Doc- 

[808] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

tor  of  Divinity  from  his  Alma  Mater  in  1880.  Soon 
after  his  death  a  memorial  of  him  was  published  by  his 
brother,  Rev.  Dr.  E.  B.  Parsons. 

He  was  married  in  Oberlin,  Ohio,  December  11, 
1849,  to  Miss  Catherine  Jennings,  only  daughter  of 
Dr.  Isaac  and  Nancy  (Beach)  Jennings.  Her  grand- 
fathers were  Isaac  Jennings  and  Abiah  (Somers) 
Beach.  The  Jennings  ancestors  came  from  England 
in  the  early  days  of  the  Pilgrims,  one  brother  settling 
in  Fairfield,  Connecticut.  Mrs.  Parsons'  grandfather, 
Jennings,  fought  in  the  War  of  the  Revolution.  Her 
grandmother  fled  with  one  child  from  her  burning 
dwelling,  as  did  other  inhabitants.  Mrs.  Parsons'  fam- 
ily moved  from  Derby,  Connecticut,  when  she  was  fif- 
teen years  old,  to  Oberlin.  She  was  a  graduate 
of  Oberlin  College  in  the  class  of  1844,  being  one  of  the 
first  young  women  to  take  the  full  classical  course  at 
that  institution.  She,  with  four  children,  survived  her 
husband.  The  oldest  child,  Electa  Clark,  born  at 
Salonica,  for  some  time  carried  on  with  her  mother,  the 
school  for  girls  at  Nicomedia.  On  August  18,  1886, 
she  was  married  at  Adabazar,  Turkey,  to  Charles  W. 
Riggs  of  Aintab,  Central  Turkey.  The  second, 
Louisa  Shepard,  born  at  Smyrna,  married  in  1873 
Rev.  Albert  Whiting  (Union  College  1869),  of  the 
Presbyterian  mission  in  China,  who  died  in  April,  1878, 
from  a  fever  contracted  while  he  was  carrying  food  to 
the  suffering  people  during  a  time  of  famine  in  that 
country.  Mrs.  Whiting  continued  for  a  time  the  work 
in  which  her  husband  had  been  engaged,  and  in  1883 
was  married  again  to  Rev.  Robert  E.  Abbey  (Wooster 
University  1879),  of  the  same  mission.  The  third 
child,  a  son,  Frederick  Jennings,  born  at  Nicomedia, 
was  graduated  with  distinguished  honor  at  Williams 
in  1881.  He  pursued  here  a  post-graduate  course  in 
mathematics  and  astronomy,  serving  at  the  same  time 

[  304.  ] 


Biographical  Sketches 

as  instructor  in  the  college,  and  took  the  degree  of  Doc- 
tor of  Philosophy  in  1884.  He  later  pursued  his  stud- 
ies in  Germany,  and  became  an  electrical  engineer  with 
residence  in  Paris.  The  fourth  child,  Elizabeth  Cor- 
nelia, born  in  Nicomedia,  is  engaged  in  decorative 
art. 

Mrs.  Parsons  continued  in  the  mission  field,  until 
October  15,  1887,  when  she  was  released.  She  was  re- 
appointed  February  7,  1888.  She  visited  the  United 
States  in  1891,  and  returned  the  following  year,  arriv- 
ing at  Constantinople  August  2.  She  returned  finally 
to  the  United  States  in  1897,  making  her  residence  in 
Cleveland,  Ohio,  where  she  died  June,  1914. 

HYMAN  AUGUSTINE  WILDER  was  a  native  of  Ver- 
mont, having  been  born  at  Cornwall,  in  that  State,  Feb- 
ruary 17,  1822.  He  was  the  son  of  Ora  and  Sally 
(Wheelock)  Wilder,  and  grandson  of  Daniel  and 
Polly  (Gould)  Wilder.  His  father,  who  was  a  farmer, 
was  a  man  of  marked  energy  and  strength,  and  a  strict 
observer  of  religious  duties.  This  last  characteristic 
made  him  familiar  with  Bible  truth.  His  love  of  ad- 
venture and  the  frequent  change  of  habitation  made 
him  familiar  with  new  surroundings  and  encouraged  in 
his  family  adaptability  to  circumstances.  The  mother, 
also,  was  a  woman  of  great  energy  and  strength  of 
character,  in  whose  nature,  along  with  love  of  justice, 
were  combined  imagination  and  a  sense  of  humor.  She 
was  fond  of  study  and  had  a  gift  for  scientific  inven- 
tion. The  son  had  the  usual  training  of  a  New  Eng- 
land farmer's  boy,  with  such  opportunities  for  schooling 
as  other  duties  would  allow.  The  circumstances  and 
influences  of  his  home  life  all  tended  to  develop  self- 
reliance. 

The  family  moved  to  Millville,  Orleans  County, 
New  York,  when  the  son  was  still  young,  and  his  prep- 

[  305] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

aration  for  college  was  obtained  in  Gaines  and  Millville 
Academies.  He  paid  his  own  way,  chiefly  by  teach- 
ing, not  only  through  the  academy  but  in  college, 
where  he  was  a  faithful  and  assiduous  student,  whose 
independence,  singleness  of  purpose,  and  Christian 
character  won  the  respect  of  his  classmates.  In  college 
he  was  a  member  of  the  Mills  Theological  Society. 

At  an  early  age  he  had  resolved  to  devote  himself 
to  the  ministry,  and  on  graduation  from  college,  he 
entered  the  seminary  at  East  Windsor,  Connecticut, 
from  which  he  was  graduated  in  1848.  He  was  or- 
dained at  Adams,  Massachusetts,  February  29,  1849, 
and  on  April  7  sailed  from  Boston,  with  his  wife,  as 
missionary  of  the  American  Board  to  the  Zulus  in 
South  Africa.  He  arrived  at  Cape  Town,  June  13, 
and  at  Port  Natal  July  16.  He  was  asked  by  the  mis- 
sion to  assume,  temporarily,  the  direction  of  the  press 
at  Umbilo.  In  February,  1851,  he  was  requested  by 
his  brethren  to  commence  a  new  station  at  Umtwalume, 
which  is  about  ninety  miles  from  Natal  Harbor.  This 
became  his  home  during  the  period  of  his  missionary 
service.  In  one  of  his  earlier  letters  he  has  given  an 
interesting  description  of  the  scenery  at  his  new  station. 
"The  near  approach  to  my  house,"  he  writes,  "is  over 
a  low  ridge  of  hills,  from  which  the  view  is  singularly 
beautiful  and  grand.  At  our  feet  lies  the  valley  or 
plain,  a  mile  and  a  half  long,  covered  with  perpetual 
verdure,  and  always  smiling  under  the  sun  and  under 
the  clouds.  Just  beyond  sparkle  and  sing  the  sweet 
waters  of  the  river;  and  beyond  this  rise  dark  and  lofty 
mountains,  covered  with  heath  for  the  most  part;  but 
here  and  there  huge  crags  jut  out  over  the  deep  ravines, 
where  baboons,  unmolested  by  man,  find  a  home.  At 
a  distance  of  three  miles  we  discover  a  mountain  sev- 
ered from  its  fellows,  called  by  the  natives  Umsikazi, 
rising  far  above  all  others,  and  terminating  in  a  hori- 

[306] 


Biographical  Sketches 

zontal  table-land  some  two  miles  square.  Its  sides  for 
1000  feet  are  as  perpendicular  and  regular  as  if  they 
were  chiselled  by  the  statuary.  Near  it  shoot  up  sharp 
pinnacles  of  rock,  vainly  aspiring  to  reach  its  height." 
In  the  field  which  came  under  Mr.  Wilder's  care 
and  lay  within  a  circuit  of  about  twelve  miles,  there 
were  nearly  200  kraals  with  a  population  of  nearly 
3000.  From  this  station  four  tribes  were  easily 
accessible. 

Here  he  had  to  begin  his  work  from  the  very  foun- 
dation.    Using  the  canvas  that  covered  the  wagon  for 
a  shelter  by  night  and  a  sitting-room  by  day,  he  pro- 
vided a  temporary  dwelling  whose  walls  were  made  of 
sticks  and  mud  and  whose  roof  was  thatched  with  grass. 
He  then  proceeded  to  erect  more  stable  structures,  and 
with  his  own  hands,  with  such  help  as  he  could  get  from 
the  natives,  he  prepared  and  put  together  both  the 
brick  and  the  wood  of  a  house,  and  subsequently  of  a 
church  and  a  schoolhouse.     A  few  years  later  he  wrote 
of  this  experience:  "Little  like  a  clergyman  did  the  mis- 
sionary appear  as,  dressed  in  frock,  and  covered  from 
head  to  foot  with  clay,  he  moulded  the  bricks,  or  used 
the  saw,  plane,  and  the  trowel;  but  very  thankful  and 
satisfied  he  was,  when,  as  the  new  year  of  1852  dawned, 
he  was  in  a  comfortable  dwelling,  which  bids  fair  to 
stand  long  after  he  is  dead.     It  is  only  right  to  say, 
however,  that  the  brick  were  in  part  made  by  a  white 
man,  and  burned  and  laid  into  walls  by  him."     All  this, 
however,  he  considered  as  part  of  his  distinctive  work 
as  a  missionary,  believing,  as  he  did,  that  the  people 
could  more  easily  be  Christianized  by  being  made  ac- 
quainted with  the  arts  of  civilization.     Then  he  made 
it  his  business  to  work  with  the  people  in  order  to  im- 
press them  with  the  sense  of  the  dignity  of  labor,  and 
by  precept  and  example  to  teach  them  the  arts  of  civ- 
ilized life.     He  learned  trades  before  strange  to  him- 

[807] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

self,  in  order  to  teach  them  to  his  people ;  and  the  suc- 
cess which  attended  his  efforts  in  these  directions  also 
appeared  in  his  building  up  a  self-supporting  church. 
The  practical  character  of  the  man  and  his  influence 
commended  themselves  to  the  British  authorities  of  the 
country,  from  whom  he  was  very  successful  in  obtain- 
ing funds  for  the  support  of  the  mission  schools. 

Though  a  seminary  and  day  schools  had  been  es- 
tablished in  the  earlier  years  of  this  mission,  it  was  six 
years  before  there  appeared  the  first  inquirer,  and  ten 
years  before  a  little  church  of  nine  members  was 
formed.  But  from  this  time  on  Mr.  Wilder's  letters 
tell  of  progress  and  success;  of  the  erection  of  a  build- 
ing for  the  training  school  at  Amanzimtoti;  of  a  re- 
vival with  100  conversions;  of  accessions  to  the  church 
and  the  completion  of  a  new  chapel  of  brick.  A  most 
interesting  account  of  this  growth  is  given  by  Mr. 
Wilder  in  the  Missionary  Herald  for  1868.  Whether 
as  preacher,  or  teacher  in  the  schools,  or  making  explor- 
ing tours,  or  by  practical  illustrations  teaching  the  na- 
tives the  rudiments  of  civilization,  he  was,  for  twenty- 
eight  years,  with  the  interruption  of  a  single  visit  to  this 
country,  ever  the  zealous,  indefatigable,  efficient  worker. 
On  his  return  to  his  field  in  1870  after  a  visit  to  this 
country,  he  assumed,  temporarily,  in  addition  to  the 
care  of  his  own  station,  the  oversight  of  two  others,  and 
in  1875  he  went  to  Amanzimtoti  as  substitute  for  an- 
other in  the  training  school,  where  he  had  previously 
taught  for  a  time.  These  various  cares  had  already 
begun  to  undermine  even  his  rugged  constitution,  when, 
in  August  of  that  year,  on  a  vacation  trip  to  the  inte- 
rior, undertaken  with  reference  to  selecting  a  site  for 
a  new  station,  he  suffered  from  a  severe  attack  of  dys- 
entery. Though  he^was  able  to  return  to  his  field,  he 
was  soon  obliged  to  try  a  residence  of  some  months  at 
the  Cape.  He  once  more  returned  to  work,  but  a  re- 

[308] 


Biographical  Sketches 

lapse  followed,  and  by  the  advice  of  physicians  and  his 
colleagues,  he  returned  to  this  country,  arriving  in  Bos- 
ton January,  1877.  After  four  months  of  critical  ill- 
ness, his  health  began  to  mend.  During  the  summer 
he  resided  at  Waverley,  Massachusetts.  At  the  begin- 
ning of  September  he  removed  to  Hartford,  Con- 
necticut, to  be  near  his  son,  who  had  recently  been 
graduated  from  Williams  and  was  now  in  the  Hartford 
Theological  Seminary.  But  soon  after  his  arrival,  he 
had  a  sudden  relapse,  and  died  September  7,  1877,  aged 
55  years. 

An  excellent  sketch  of  Mr.  Wilder's  life  and  char- 
acter was  prepared  for  the  history  of  the  class  by  the 
class  secretary, — Professor  William  Dwight  Whitney. 
The  following  extract  is  from  that  sketch:  "He  was 
at  the  Williams  Commencement  in  '68,  and  then  and 
later  saw  many  of  his  classmates.  One  of  them  writes 
(expressing  the  sentiments  of  all) :  'I  was  much  im- 
pressed with  the  growth  he  had  made  since  our  college 
days,  the  breadth  of  his  views,  and  his  mental  grasp. 
Though  having  lived  for  nearly  a  generation  in  the 
wilds  of  Africa,  his  time  constantly  occupied  by  press- 
ing duties  and  cares,  he  seemed  to  be  fully  posted  in  the 
progress  of  the  whole  world,  and  to  have  progressed 
with  it.  He  preached  and  lectured  several  times  in  our 
city,  and  always  exerted  a  profound  influence  upon  his 
hearers.  He  was  exceedingly  genial  in  private  inter- 
course, full  of  humor,  and  a  good  story-teller.  He  pos- 
sessed an  unusual  degree  of  common  sense  and  tact, 
and  was  practical  in  all  his  ways;  and  it  seems  to  me 
that  this  was  in  no  small  degree  the  secret  of  his  large 
success  as  a  missionary.  His  wife  was  a  fit  helpmeet 
for  such  a  man.'  Few  men  have  fallen  into  places  so 
well  suited  to  their  nature,  and  have  made  those  places 
so  profitable  and  educating,  to  themselves  as  well  as 
to  others."  A  writer  in  the  Missionary  Review  for 

[  309] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

January,  1878,  gives  the  following  testimony:  "He 
was  an  able  and  faithful  missionary  for  twenty-eight 
years,  with  but  one  visit,  meanwhile,  to  his  native  land. 
Of  quick  perception,  rare  enthusiasm  and  versatility, 
and  thoroughly  consecrated  to  the  service  of  Christ 
among  the  Zulus,  he  proved  a  very  able  and  efficient 
worker." 

The  following  extract  is  from  a  letter,  dated  July 
3,  1912,  of  Rev.  Ownslow  Carlton,  who  is  now  in 
charge  of  the  work  and  station  founded  by  Mr.  Wilder, 
and  on  which  his  son,  Rev.  Dr.  G.  A.  Wilder,  labored 
for  ten  years.  The  letter  is  addressed  to  the  son. 
"Your  remarks  about  Umtwalume  are  very  interest- 
ing. I  do  not  think  you  need  to  be  worried  about  the 
moral  tone  of  that  church  or  station.  In  my  opinion 
it  is  by  far  the  best  station  in  my  district,  and  there  I 
have  met  the  very  finest  men  I  have  ever  seen  among 
natives.  The  church  is  a  real  live  one  and  doing  good 
work.  All  my  head  stations  are  now  entirely  self-sup- 
porting,— Ifafa,  Amahlongwa,  Umzumbe,  and  Umt- 
walume, and  subscribe  regularly  to  the  Abaisitupa. 
The  moral  tone  of  Ifafa  is  nothing  to  boast  of,  but  I 
hope  that  my  living  here  will  help  matters.  I  might 
say  that  Robert  Ncobo  [he  was  baptized  by  G.  A. 
Wilder,  and  his  father  by  H.  A.  Wilder],  who  is  still 
in  the  Theological  School  at  Impolweni,  has  been  called 
to  the  Umtwalume  Church,  and  I  think  their  choice  is 
a  good  one,  as  he  is  really  a  fine  fellow  and  am  sure  he 
will  do  a  good  work  there. 

"I  most  sincerely  hope  that  you  will  be  able  to  visit 
Umtwalume,  this  year,  and  if  you  do  you  will  get  a 
grand  welcome  from  the  people.  Your  father's  photo 
is  still  up  in  the  church  and  I  am  always  being  referred 
to  you  as  an  authority  on  various  matters." 

As  Mr.  Wilder  had  achieved  success  as  a  teacher 
before  going  to  Natal,  so,  aside  from  his  special  services 

[310] 


Biographical  Sketches 

as  a  missionary,  he  became  prominent  as  a  lecturer  to 
the  white  colonists  on  the  subjects  of  astronomy,  chem- 
istry, and  mineralogy. 

Mr.  Wilder  was  married  February  21,  1849,  to  Miss 
Abbie  Temperance  Linsley,  daughter  of  Horace  and 
Betsey  (Samson)  Linsley,  of  Cornwall,  Vermont,  and 
granddaughter  of  Joel  and  Livinia  (Gilbert)  Linsley. 
She  studied  at  Mount  Holyoke  Seminary.  Mrs. 
Wilder  died  March  27,  1912,  at  the  age  of  90,  at  the 
home  of  her  daughter,  Mrs.  George  H.  Gutterson,  in 
Winchester,  Massachusetts,  having  spent  about  forty 
years  in  the  mission  field  in  Natal. 

Their  children  were  one  daughter,  Emma  Samson 
Wilder,  and  one  son,  George  Albert  Wilder.  The 
daughter  was  married  in  September,  1878,  to  Rev. 
George  H.  Gutterson,  who  after  serving  as  a  mission- 
ary for  many  years  in  India  returned  to  this  country 
and  is  now  District  Secretary  of  the  American  Mis- 
sionary Association.  Mr.  Gutterson  received  the  hon- 
orary degree  of  Master  of  Arts  from  this  college  in 
1891  and  had  a  son  who  was  graduated  here  in  1904. 
Rev.  Dr.  George  Albert  Wilder,  also  a  missionary  in 
South  Africa,  was  graduated  here  in  1877,  and  re- 
ceived the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity  from  his  Alma 
Mater  in  1904.  His  son  was  graduated  here  in  1907. 

The  following  letter  written  by  Dr.  George  A. 
Wilder  contains  so  many  additional  and  interesting 
facts  concerning  his  father  that  it  properly  claims 
place  here. 

"My  father  was  a  man  of  great  independence  of 
thought  and  character.  A  diligent  searcher  after 
truth  and  a  lover  of  justice,  following  these  he  did  not 
ask  whither  they  might  lead  him.  Hating  mere  con- 
ventionalities, he  was  a  severe  critic,  laying  bare  every 
sham.  In  spite  of  the  fact  that  my  father  at  times 
opposed  unsparingly  both  the  Colonists  and  the  Gov- 

[311] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

ernment,  each  admired  and  feared  him.  The  late  Sir 
Theophilus  Shepstone  was  heard  to  remark  that  he 
always,  if  possible,  avoided  meeting  Mr.  Wilder,  for 
Mr.  Wilder  generally  gave  him  a  lot  of  trouble  with  his 
criticisms  of  the  Government's  management  of  the  na- 
tive black  people.  However,  it  was  this  same  Natal 
Government  which  supplied  my  father  with  tools,  in- 
cluding a  fifteen-horse-power  steam  engine  with  which 
to  assist  him  in  carrying  on  his  industrial  works  for  the 
betterment  of  the  same  blacks.  My  father  and  Rev. 
W.  M.  Mellen  were  the  pioneers  in  teaching  the  Zulu 
converts  industries.  The  Colonists  also  were  ever 
ready  to  invite  my  father  to  deliver  to  their  audi- 
ences lectures  on  astronomy,  chemistry,  geology, 
Yankee  Notions,  and  what  not.  And  as  a  preacher 
he  was  eagerly  sought  after — and  all  in  all  no  man  in 
the  Zulu  Mission  has  ever  been  more  acceptable  in  the 
pulpit  or  on  the  lecture  platform  than  was  my  father. 
"It  was  only  by  keeping  in  touch  with  scientific  lit- 
erature that  he  was  able  to  hold  such  a  position.  The 
Independent,  Scientific  American,  Harper's  Weekly 
and  the  Litt ell's  Living  Age  were  always  in  our  home 
as  far  back  as  my  recollections  go.  My  father  told  me 
one  day,  shortly  before  his  death,  that  a  man  should 
never  cease  to  study  the  subjects  which  he  had  investi- 
gated while  in  college.  And  so  comprehensive  and 
practical  was  his  idea  of  a  college  education,  that  he  said 
to  me  once  after  my  graduation,  when  I  expressed  a 
doubt  of  my  being  able  to  manufacture  trunks  out  of 
some  boards  which  he  had  brought  from  Cape  Town 
[camphor  wood  boards  from  a  tree  planted  by  Gov- 
ernor Van  Rebeck  (Jan  Van  Reibeek),  in  the  middle 
of  the  seventeenth  century,  1652],  'My  son,  ...  a 
college  graduate  who  .can  not  make  a  trunk  ought  to 
be  whipped.'  I  hardly  need  to  add  that  although  I 
was  greatly  grieved  at  the  remark,  I  made  the  four 

[812] 


Biographical  Sketches 

trunks  then  and  there,  1877,  and  these  same  trunks  are 
still  in  use,  1912.  But  it  was  my  father  and  not 
Williams  that  I  had  to  thank  for  being  able  to  make 
the  trunks. 

"Perhaps  one  of  my  father's  strong  points  was  his 
ability  to  make  the  most  unpromising  material  pro- 
duce results.  Indeed  he  has  a  record  of  being  a  most 
successful  teacher,  in  which  he  had  much  training  even 
before  he  went  to  Africa,  as  he  paid  most  of  his  college 
bills  by  teaching.  While  in  this  country  on  his  first 
vacation  he  was  offered  the  principalship  of  a  large 
High  School  in  Michigan. 

"Father  was  more  interested  in  study  of  the  'Nat- 
ural Sciences,'  as  they  used  to  be  called  in  his  day, 
than  in  the  study  of  Philosophy  and  Religion.  With  a 
decidedly  inventive  mind  he  turned  his  attention  to  ex- 
periments, and  was  the  first  to  suggest  the  use  of  rub- 
ber washers  to  steady  heavy  machinery.  For  this  sug- 
gestion he  received  a  small  sum,  I  think  $400.  He  in- 
vented the  unleakable  inkstand;  namely  an  inverted 
hollow  cone  set  into  another  cylindrical  receptacle.  It 
is  now  universally  used  in  different  forms.  He  made 
nothing  on  this  idea,  as  it  was  taken  from  him  and  pat- 
ented by  another  man.  He  invented  the  idea  of  using 
nitro-glycerine  as  an  explosive,  and  actually  used  it  in 
bursting  open  rocks,  before  Nobel  came  forward. 
This  last  combination  he  discovered  when  working  with 
a  young  Colonist  in  chemistry.  Many  young  Colo- 
nists, from  contact  with  my  father,  were  stimulated 
to  get  an  education.  He  was  more  than  ready  to 
help  any  young  man  or  woman  who  wished  to  learn 
something. 

"Not  willing  that  my  sister  and  self  should  miss 
entirely  an  elementary  school  training,  he  hired  a  cul- 
tured English  lady  to  teach  us.  We  were  100  miles 
away  from  any  English  school.  Several  children  of 

[.813] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

neighboring  Colonists  were  sent  to  our  teacher,  all  of 
whom  were  boarded  in  our  family.  My  father  and  my 
mother  could  neither  of  them  sing,  play  or  sketch;  we 
were  compelled  to  practice  at  each.  At  night  my 
father  read  aloud  to  us  all  from  the  best  literature  and 
taught  us  to  play  checkers  and  chess;  the  latter  game 
is  the  only  study  I  made  much  progress  in.  In  the 
school  I  was  always  at  the  foot,  and  this  position  hap- 
pened to  be  near  the  outside  door.  When  the  teacher 
upbraided  me  for  always  remaining  at  the  foot  I  replied 
that  I  was  there  because  from  there  I  could  get  out  of 
school  first.  That  was  all  I  appreciated  my  father's 
efforts  at  giving  me  an  education.  He  presented  me 
on  one  of  my  birthdays  with  a  beautifully  built  turning 
lathe  (foot  power),  all  of  which  he  had  made  with  his 
own  hands,  even  to  the  iron  chuck  and  the  steel  chisels. 
I  scarcely  used  it  a  dozen  times.  He  also  secured  for 
me  a  beautiful  model  steam  engine,  in  which  I  took  no 
interest.  I  must  have  been  a  sore  disappointment  to 
him.  Nevertheless,  I  know  that  to  him  I  am  mostly 
indebted  for  what  little  knowledge  I  possess.  My 
father's  station  was  almost  like  a  small  university;  an 
extensive  experiment  station.  In  his  effort  to  draw 
the  heathen  into  a  higher,  more  productive  life,  he  tried 
almost  every  thing  he  could  get  his  hands  on.  When 
I  was  the  merest  child,  I  remember  a  host  of  naked  sav- 
ages engaged  in  digging  a  great  ditch  a  half  a  mile  in 
length  through  which  my  father  was  to  draw  the  stream 
near  our  home  and  make  it  turn  a  great  waterwheel  of 
his  own  construction,  which  turned  the  huge  punched- 
tin  covered  drums,  which  in  their  turn  scraped  the  roots 
of  the  arrowroot  plant.  And  I  well  remember  the  day 
when  the  floods  came  and  swept  away  the  whole  outfit, 
— mill,  trench,  and  all;  but  not  until  the  natives  had 
made  enough  to  start  to  erect  the  first  church  on  the 
place.  Next  cotton  planting  was  taken  up  soon  after 

[314] 


Biographical  Sketches 

the  Sea-Island  seed  became  famous  and  while  the  South- 
ern cotton  was  next  to  nil  because  of  the  War  of  the 
Rebellion.  I  earned  my  first  pennies  picking  cotton. 
On  the  station,  father  had  set  up  one  of  the  first,  if  not 
the  very  first,  cotton  gin  introduced  into  South  Africa. 
This  with  the  circular  saw  and  the  stone  grist-mill  were 
run  by  the  engine  which  the  Government  gave  to 
the  station.  I  early  had  to  learn  much  about  the  care 
of  the  engine  and  understood  much  about  all  the  other 
machinery.  Brick-making  and  building  father's  men 
had  much  to  do  with.  His  boys  were  employed  in  sev- 
eral places  to  make  slop-bricks.  He  brought  marble 
from  thirty  miles  away  and  burned  it  in  a  kiln  and  used 
the  slaked  lime  for  mortar  in  putting  up  the  last  church 
he  erected.  Charcoal-making  was  carried  on  system- 
atically as  much  charcoal  was  consumed  in  one  way  and 
another  on  the  place.  Then  there  was  the  forge  where 
a  man  was  sawing  up  tusks  of  ivory.  At  another  shed 
a  white  man  was  building  a  wagon  wheel,  and  soon  we 
had  a  journey  in  our  own  wagon  made  altogether  on 
the  premises.  I  remember  that  this  vehicle  had  oil- 
cups  screwed  to  the  hubs  of  the  wheels,  a  device  only 
lately  at  that  time  invented  if  I  am  not  mistaken.  I 
mention  this  small  matter  to  illustrate  how  sure  father 
was  to  have  everything  up  to  date.  In  1863,  or  '64, 
he  was  running  a  camera  obscura,  and  I  have  a  photo 
of  my  sister  and  self  taken  in  1864.  I  well  recall  how 
I  had  to  work  at  washing  the  prints,  and  how  father's 
hands  were  stained  with  the  nitrate  of  silver  which  I 
suppose  he  used  in  developing. 

"About  this  time  I  remember  seeing  one  of  the  na- 
tive boys  employed  mending  shoes,  and  presently  I  had 
a  pair  made  to  my  measure.  I  did  not  know  when 
father  taught  this  youth  to  make  shoes.  It  was  this 
same  young  native  whom  the  Governor  of  Natal  saw 
making  a  pair  of  boots.  When  the  surprised  Governor 

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Williams  College  and  Missions 

asked  my  father  who  taught  the  man  to  make  boots,  he 
replied  that  he  taught  him  himself.  Whereupon  his 
Excellency  inquired  if  my  father  was  a  cobbler.  'No,' 
my  father  replied,  'I  simply  took  one  of  my  old  boots 
and  first  analyzed  it,  and  put  it  together  again.  I 
made  patterns  from  the  analyzed  parts,  and  cutting  out 
new  parts,  had  the  lad  sew  them  together,  and  so  the 
new  boot-making  received  a  start,  although  I  know 
nothing  about  the  cobbler's  business.'  The  Governor 
was  so  much  interested  that  he  was  instrumental  in 
sending  a  portable  steam-engine  to  my  father  to  use 
in  the  station. 

"The  silkworm  industry  was  next  taken  up  and  the 
native  school  children  were  taught  to  raise  the  mulberry 
leaves  and  to  feed  the  worms,  and  we  white  children 
learned  to  unwind  the  silk.  Agriculture  and  arbor 
culture  also  received  attention.  And  in  the  year  1870, 
on  his  return  from  America,  he  induced  the  natives  to 
raise  sugar-cane,  and  before  three  years  there  were 
three  sugar  mills  at  work  on  three  stations — all  owned 
by  the  natives.  All  these,  however,  did  not  survive 
after  my  father  left  Africa,  for  not  one  of  the  other 
missionaries  was  sympathetic  with  his  plans  and  proj- 
ects, and  I  think  they  could  not  have  carried  them  on 
had  they  been  desirous  to  do  so.  The  natives  who 
came  under  father's  instruction  and  influence  show 
markedly  the  uplifting  influence  he  had  upon  them. 
We  see  that  his  name  has  reached  into  the  interior  of 
South  Africa.  (See  the  appreciation  of  my  work 
given  by  the  natives  at  Chikore,  one  thousand  miles 
north  of  the  field  in  which  my  father  labored. )  It  may 
be  remarked  that  the  various  industries  which  my  father 
taught  to  the  natives  in  Natal  are  many  of  them  at 
least  not  carried  on  by  the  natives.  Even  so.  Father 
was  a  man  before  his  day.  The  natives  were  too  un- 
civilized to  appreciate  and  to  carry  on  his  ideas  inde- 

[316] 


Biographical  Sketches 

pendently  of  his  guidance.  They  were  not  then  ad- 
vanced enough  to  cooperate  peaceably.  All  the  same 
the  general  influence  he  had  over  them  through  all  these 
industrial  efforts  is  immense  today  even  upon  their 
children. 

"None  of  these  efforts  were  for  my  good  directly, 
but  I  feel  that  I  learned  more  practical  knowledge  in 
the  half  a  dozen  years  I  was  at  home  on  the  Umtwalume 
Mission  Station,  between  the  ages  of  six  and  twelve, 
than  during  almost  all  the  rest  of  my  life. 

"How  my  father  accomplished  all  this  on  his  small 
salary  is  a  wonder  to  me,  especially  as  not  only  were 
all  but  one  of  his  brethren  in  the  field  opposed  to  him, 
but  also  the  American  Board  officials,  and  many  of  its 
constituency.  Father  was  carrying  out  General  Arm- 
strong's ideas  in  Africa  while  the  General  was  still  a 
little  boy  in  the  Sandwich  Islands. 

"Perhaps  you  are  aware  that  it  was  my  father  who 
sent  the  first  seed  of  the  sorghum  to  America;  also  the 
first  seed  of  the  Kaffir  corn  so-called,  both  of  which 
plants  have  proved  such  a  boon  to  the  American  people 
of  the  Middle  West.  He  sent  the  seed  to  Professor 
Albert  Hopkins,  his  warm  friend,  who  sent  it  on  to  the 
Smithsonian  Institute,  Washington." 


CLASS  OF  1846 

FREDERICK  HUMPHREY  BREWSTER  was  born  in 
Waterloo,  Seneca  County,  New  York,  February  20, 
1822.  He  entered  college  as  a  Sophomore  in  1843, 
from  Canaan,  Michigan.  He  became  a  member  of  the 
Philotechnian  Society  and  of  the  Mills  Theological 
Society.  He  was  graduated  with  the  appointment  of 
an  Oration,  and  was  one  of  the  speakers  at  Commence- 
ment, his  subject  being  "Evangelical  Missions."  The 
year  1850-51  he  spent  at  Andover  in  the  study  of  the- 

[317] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

ology,  and  then  studied  for  a  time  at  the  Theological 
Institute  of  Connecticut.  He  was  ordained  at  Enfield, 
Connecticut,  February  25,  1852,  and  on  the  21st  of 
July  following,  he  and  his  wife,  Mrs.  Mary  G.  Brews- 
ter,  of  Windham,  Connecticut,  under  appointment  of 
the  American  Board,  sailed  in  the  ship  Siam,  Captain 
Ring,  in  the  expectation  of  joining  the  Canton  Mis- 
sion. After  a  passage  which  was  long,  though  "on  the 
whole  pleasant,"  they  arrived  safely  at  Hong  Kong  on 
December  29,  and  at  Canton  on  January  1.  Mr. 
Brewster  died  of  smallpox  at  Canton,  January  29, 
1853,  just  a  month  after  reaching  the  country.  A  let- 
ter from  Mr.  S.  Wells  Williams,  printed  in  the  Mis- 
sionary Herald  for  June,  1853,  gives  an  account  of  the 
sickness  and  death  of  Mr.  Brewster.  The  following 
extract  is  from  that  letter:  "In  view  of  this  dispensa- 
tion of  God  to  us  as  a  mission,  as  Christians  engaged 
in  making  known  Christ  to  the  Chinese,  we  can  only 
say,  'The  Lord  gave,  and  the  Lord  hath  taken  away; 
blessed  be  the  name  of  the  Lord/  We  had  hoped  for 
much  pleasant  intercourse  with  this  brother;  and  he 
was  happy  to  reach  his  allotted  port,  after  some  five 
years  of  preparation  for  missionary  work.  He  was  in 
Canton  just  four  weeks;  and  the  little  which  we  saw 
of  him  led  us  to  rejoice  in  the  prospect  of  having  such 
a  coadjutor.  But  he  has  gone  to  a  higher  seat,  and  the 
record  of  his  desire  to  do  good  to  this  ignorant  people 
must  be  looked  for  on  his  gravestone.  He  lies  among 
the  hills  of  China;  and  when  his  mouldering  dust  is 
called  to  rise,  it  will  meet  many  thousands  and  myriads 
of  redeemed  sinners  from  among  the  millions  of  this 
Empire;  and  he  will  rejoice  with  them  to  sit  down  at 
the  marriage  supper  of  the  Lamb." 

On  April  13,  1852,  Mr.  Brewster  married  Miss 
Mary  Gray  Byrne,  who  was  born  in  Windham,  Con- 
necticut. After  the  death  of  Mr.  Brewster,  she  re- 

[318] 


Biographical  Sketches 

inained  and  labored  in  connection  with  the  mission 
until  her  marriage,  December  19,  1854,  to  Rev.  Charles 
Finney  Preston  of  the  Presbyterian  Board,  when  her 
connection  with  the  American  Board  ceased.  After 
the  death  of  Mr.  Preston  in  1877,  she  returned  to  the 
United  States,  and  soon  afterwards  took  charge  of  the 
Women's  Home  for  Chinese  Women  and  Girls  in  San 
Francisco,  California. 

GEORGE  WHITEFIELD  COAN  was  born  in  Byron, 
New  York,  December  30,  1817,  the  son  of  Ezra  and 
Fannie  Maria  (Hull)  Coan,  and  grandson  of  Gaylord 
Coan.  The  father  was  a  merchant.  The  son  entered 
college  as  a  Sophomore  in  1843,  and  became  a  member 
of  the  Mills  Theological  Society  and  of  the  Philotech- 
nian  Society.  He  was  one  of  the  speakers  at  Com- 
mencement, when  he  delivered  an  oration  on  "Rela- 
tions." After  graduation  he  entered  Union  Theologi- 
cal Seminary,  from  which  he  was  graduated  in  1849. 
He  was  ordained  by  the  Presbytery  of  Genesee,  June 
6  of  the  same  year,  and  on  the  18th  of  that  month,  he 
with  his  wife  embarked  from  Boston  for  Smyrna,  be- 
ing under  the  appointment  of  the  American  Board  to 
go  to  Urumia,  Persia,  where  he  arrived  October  13. 
The  mission  to  the  Nestorians,  among  whom  he  was  to 
labor,  had  been  commenced  in  1833,  the  attention  of 
the  Board  having  been  directed  to  that  field  by  the  facts 
brought  to  light  by  Messrs.  Smith  and  Dwight.  Rev. 
Justin  Perkins,  then  a  tutor  in  Amherst  College,  was 
the  first  missionary  appointed  to  that  people.  In  their 
instructions  to  Mr.  Perkins,  the  Prudential  Committee 
said:  "Your  first  duty  among  the  Nestorians  will  be 
to  cultivate  an  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  religious 
opinions  and  sentiments  of  the  Nestorians.  .  .  . 
Whether  you  will  be  able  at  present,  with  a  due  regard 
for  personal  safety,  to  penetrate  the  Kurdish  Moun- 

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Williams  College  and  Missions 

tains,  and  visit  the  Nestorian  Patriarch,  is  very  doubt- 
ful. But  the  journey  should  be  performed  as  soon  as 
may  be,  lest  interested  and  perverse  men  should  prej- 
udice his  mind  against  you."  The  Committee  also 
stated  that  the  main  object  of  the  missionaries  "would 
be  to  enable  the  Nestorian  Church,  through  the  grace 
of  God,  to  exert  a  commanding  influence  in  the  regen- 
eration of  Asia." 

The  province  of  Urumia  is  situated  in  the  north- 
western part  of  modern  Persia,  being  bounded  on  the 
west  by  a  chain  of  snow-covered  mountains,  and  on  the 
east  by  a  beautiful  lake,  eight  miles  long  and  thirty 
broad.  The  territory  of  the  Nestorians,  who  numbered 
about  150,000,  extended  from  Lake  Urumia  300  miles 
westward  to  the  Tigris,  and  200  miles  from  north  to 
south,  embracing  rugged  mountain  ranges  and  several 
beautiful  and  fertile  plains. 

When  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Coan  joined  the  mission  in 
1849,  the  mission  was  enjoying  a  second  revival.  In 
the  period  of  fifteen  years  since  the  arrival  of  Mr.  Per- 
kins there  had  been  established  a  male  and  a  female 
seminary,  and  thirty-two  village  schools  with  600  pu- 
pils. Soon  after  his  arrival,  Mr.  Coan  took  the  super- 
vision of  the  village  schools  and  reported  an  eager 
desire  among  the  people  to  learn  to  read.  He  was  soon 
transferred  from  the  village  school  department  to  the 
seminary,  and  according  to  that  arrangement,  spent 
four  days  a  week  al  Seir.  In  a  letter  of  February  22, 
1851,  he  gives  an  interesting  account  of  a  revival  in 
the  seminaries,  the  third  revival  in  three  successive 
years.  The  genuineness  of  the  work  is  indicated  by  this 
extract  from  Mr.  Coan's  letter:  "Having  occasion 
sometimes  to  pass  in  the  vicinity  of  the  students'  pray- 
ing closets,  I  have  been  struck  with  the  apparently  sub- 
dued and  chastened  spirit  of  their  devotions.  Instead 
of  loud  and  boisterous  demonstrations,  their  quiet  and 

[  320] 


Biographical  Sketches 

suppressed  tones  have  rather  indicated  a  desire  to  un- 
burden the  soul  before  God  in  secret  places."  Mr. 
Coan's  distinctive  department,  however,  was  field  work, 
both  among  the  villages  of  Kurdistan  and  those  of  the 
plain,  where  he  was  ever  the  earnest,  laborious  preacher 
of  the  Word,  and  bishop  of  the  infant  churches.  In 
August,  1851,  accompanied  by  three  native  helpers,  he 
set  out  upon  a  long  excursion  into  Central  Kurdistan, 
when  they  entered  between  fifty  and  sixty  villages  and 
preached  the  gospel  to  more  than  4000  persons,  some 
of  the  ground  having  never  before  been  visited  by  a 
missionary.  The  winter  of  1851-52  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Coan 
and  Mr.  Rhea  spent  in  Gawar  for  the  purpose  of  estab- 
lishing a  station  there.  The  village  selected  for  the 
station  was  Memikan,  which  lay  on  the  southwest  base 
of  the  great  Jeloo  Mountains,  was  central,  and  was  also 
the  home  of  Deacon  Tamo.  Of  their  first  experience 
there,  Mr.  Coan  wrote:  "Our  chests  have  served  for  a 
bedstead  at  night  and  a  table  by  day ;  but  we  never  slept 
more  sweetly  or  ate  with  more  cheerful  hearts  than  now. 
Our  floor  is  the  earth,  and  our  carpeting  is  hay,  but  we 
hope  to  be  more  comfortable  soon  in  some  of  these  re- 
spects. The  houses  of  Gawar  are  burrows  in  the  earth, 
with  a  hole  overhead  to  admit  the  ingress  of  light  and 
egress  of  smoke,  where  horses,  cattle,  sheep,  goats,  hens, 
vermin,  men,  women,  and  children  are  the  disputants 
for  the  territory.  We  have  succeeded  in  obtaining  a 
place  under  Deacon  Tamo's  roof,  shut  off  from  the 
other  occupants  of  the  house,  where  we  hope  to  be  quite 
comfortable."  Added  to  other  discomforts  was  the  se- 
verity of  the  winter,  where  the  thermometer  went  23° 
below  zero  and  the  snow  lay  four  or  five  feet  deep. 

Of  the  success  of  the  work  there  Dr.  Anderson 
writes:  "Mrs.  Coan  had  a  school  for  the  mothers  and 
daughters  of  the  village,  who  came  barefooted  through 
the  snow  day  after  day,  the  mothers  bringing  their  chil- 

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Williams  College  and  Missions 

dren  on  their  backs.  All  the  young  men  and  all  the 
boys  of  suitable  age  learned  to  read  the  gospel,  and  the 
fathers  came  to  the  school-room  every  Saturday,  to  lis- 
ten while  the  scholars  were  learning  their  Sabbath- 
school  lessons.  Thirty  or  forty  were  accustomed  to 
assemble  every  night  to  hear  the  Word  of  God  ex- 
pounded, and  all  attended  on  the  services  of  the  Sab- 
bath. Deacon  Tamo  preached  in  the  surrounding 
villages.  Though  threatened  at  times,  he  encountered 
no  active  opposition."  While  Mr.  Coan  was  an  elo- 
quent and  impressive  speaker,  gifted  with  a  ready  ut- 
terance and  possessed  of  an  unusually  correct 
knowledge  of  the  Syriac  language,  and  thus  exercised  a 
wide  influence  by  his  preaching,  he  placed  great  em- 
phasis upon  the  work  done  in  the  schools.  Of  the 
village  schools,  seventy-two  were  kept  up  through  the 
winter  of  1854-55  and  the  following  winter  fifty- 
eight  were  reported,  with  1100  pupils.  It  was  the  dis- 
tinct purpose  of  Mr.  Coan  to  make  all  these  schools 
subservient  to  the  spread  of  the  gospel,  his  object  be- 
ing not  so  much  instruction  in  the  sciences  as  teaching 
the  pupils  how  to  read  and  understand  the  Scriptures. 
Accordingly,  they  had  Sabbath-school  instruction  and 
weekly  recitations  of  the  Scriptures.  The  schools  were 
the  centers  where  the  people  gathered  to  listen  to  the 
more  formal  preaching  of  the  Word.  Furthermore,  the 
young  men  from  the  male  seminary  were  accustomed 
to  go  forth,  two  and  two,  through  the  villages  preach- 
ing the  gospel.  As  was  to  be  expected,  labors  charac- 
terized by  such  an  evangelistic  spirit  were  followed  by 
frequent  revivals  and  by  encouraging  additions  to  the 
church.  In  1868  Mr.  Coan  reported  that  in  the  year 
then  closing  there  had  been  added  to  the  company  of 
believers  100  in  the  .whole  field,  that  the  word  of  God 
had  been  regularly  preached  in  seventy-eight  places, 
and  that  the  average  of  the  congregations  had 

[322] 


Biographical  Sketches 

amounted,  in  the  aggregate,  to  about  3000.  Of  course 
these  labors  were  performed  not  without  great  and  se- 
rious hindrances.  The  letters  from  the  field  speak  of 
sorrows  and  anxieties  as  well  as  of  joys.  War  and  pes- 
tilence, opposition  by  the  Government,  oppression  by 
the  Kurds,  persecution,  the  death  or  removal  of  mem- 
bers of  the  mission,  are  topics  often  touched  upon  in 
the  yearly  reports. 

In  1870  the  mission  decided  that  it  was  a  duty  to 
embrace  in  their  efforts  the  Armenians  and  Mussulman 
sects  of  Central  Persia  by  establishing  a  station  at 
Hamadan  (the  ancient  Ecbatana).  The  Board  ap- 
proved of  the  plan  and  the  mission  became  known  as 
the  "Mission  to  Persia."  In  the  assignment  of  labors 
among  the  members  of  the  mission,  Mr.  Coan  was  given 
the  care  of  the  press,  the  editing  of  the  Rays  of  Light, 
the  duties  of  treasurer,  the  oversight  of  the  city  church 
and  of  two  out-stations. 

In  the  autumn  of  this  year  the  Mission  to  Persia 
was  transferred  to  the  care  of  the  Presbyterian  Board, 
the  Armenian  work  in  the  northern  portion  of  the  field 
being  reserved  by  the  American  Board. 

Mr.  Coan  was  enabled  to  labor  on  for  four  years 
more,  till  1874,  when  physical  infirmity,  the  burdens  of 
which  he  had  borne  for  years,  compelled  his  return  to 
this  country.  Including  the  years  1862-64,  which  he 
had  spent  in  this  country  in  the  recruiting  of  his  health 
and  in  the  service  of  the  Board,  he  had  spent  a  quarter 
of  a  century  of  laborious  and  fruitful  service  in  the 
cause  of  missions.  After  his  return  to  the  United 
States  he  spent  the  remaining  years  of  his  life  at  Niles, 
Michigan,  and  Wooster,  Ohio.  These  years,  also,  de- 
voted as  they  were  to  earnest  efforts  to  interest  the 
churches  more  deeply  in  the  cause  of  missions,  bore 
witness  to  his  zeal  in  his  chosen  work. 

He  died  at  Wooster,  December  21,  1879,  aged  62. 

[323  ] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

In  recognition  of  his  ability  and  faithful  service 
Wooster  University  conferred  on  him  the  honorary  de- 
gree of  Doctor  of  Divinity  in  1878. 

On  May  27,  1849,  he  was  married  in  Hudson,  New 
York,  to  Mrs.  Sarah  (Power)  Kip  of  Albany,  who  sur- 
vived him. 

Of  six  children  born  to  them,  there  is  but  one  sur- 
viving,— Rev.  Frederick  Gaylord  Coan,  D.D.,  a  grad- 
uate of  Wooster  University  in  the  class  of  1882  and 
of  Princeton  Theological  Seminary,  who  is  a  Presby- 
terian missionary,  located  at  Urumia,  Persia. 

MARSHALL  DANFORTH  SANDERS  was  born  in  Wil- 
liamstown,  Massachusetts,  July  3,  1823.  He  was  the 
son  of  Anthony  and  Celinda  (Brown)  Sanders  and  the 
grandson  of  Oliver  and  Mary  (Pollock)  Sanders  and 
of  Esik  and  Mary  (Sayles)  Brown.  Mr.  Sanders  was 
descended  from  one  of  four  brothers  who  came  from 
Europe  and  settled  in  Portsmouth,  New  Hampshire, 
the  brother  who  was  the  ancestor  of  this  branch  of  the 
family  subsequently  going  to  Rhode  Island. 

The  father  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  after  teach- 
ing school  for  several  years,  became  a  farmer.  He  was 
a  very  religious  man  and  very  active  in  church  work, 
maintaining  a  district  prayer  meeting  all  his  life. 

The  son  pursued  his  preparatory  studies  in  Wil- 
liamstown  and  entered  his  class  at  the  beginning  of 
Freshman  year.  He  belonged  to  a  class  nine  of  whose 
members  became  ministers  of  the  gospel,  three  of  them 
going  as  missionaries  to  foreign  fields.  One  of  his  col- 
lege mates  was  William  D wight  Whitney.  Mr.  San- 
ders was  a  member  of  the  Mills  Theological  Society  and 
of  the  Philologian  Society.  He  had  a  part  in  the  Com- 
mencement exercises. at  graduation,  delivering  an  ora- 
tion on  the  subject  "Sympathy."  After  graduating, 
he  taught  for  two  years  at  Social  Circle  and  Athens, 

[324] 


Biographical  Sketches 

Georgia,  and  then  studied  theology  at  Auburn  Semi- 
nary, from  which  he  was  graduated  in  1851.  He  was 
soon  after  ordained  at  Peru,  Massachusetts,  and  on  Oc- 
tober 31,  of  the  same  year,  he  with  his  wife  sailed  from 
Boston  for  the  Ceylon  Mission,  under  appointment  of 
the  American  Board,  arriving  at  Madras  on  February 
21,  and  at  Ceylon,  March  12.  He  was  at  first  stationed 
at  Batticotta,  where  he  had  charge  of  the  seminary. 
From  the  very  first  Mr.  Sanders  sought  to  produce  in 
his  pupils  a  high  standard  of  scholarship  and  well-estab- 
lished Christian  character.  As  he  selected  for  his  first 
class  only  thirty- four  out  of  eighty  candidates,  he  could 
report,  at  the  end  of  the  year,  that  a  good  degree  of  tal- 
ent had  been  exhibited,  while  the  church  members  had 
labored  for  the  spiritual  good  of  the  new  class.  In 
1853,  in  accordance  with  a  vote  of  the  Ceylon  Mission, 
he  took  charge  of  Chavakachcherri,  which  is  located  in 
the  southern  central  part  of  Jaffna.  The  reports  of  this 
year  speak  of  a  new  house  of  worship,  of  preaching  and 
efforts  made  in  the  cause  of  temperance,  of  a  Sabbath- 
school  with  an  average  attendance  of  180  boys  and  sixty 
girls,  besides  a  class  of  young  men.  Compelled  to  leave 
Chavakachcherri  by  reason  of  ill  health,  he  was  for  a 
time  at  Tellippallai  (Tillipalli).  Subsequently,  in  ad- 
dition to  Batticotta,  he  had  charge  of  Panditeripo  and 
the  islands.  Whenever  on  account  of  the  needs  of  the 
Board  or  the  sickness  of  colleagues  the  missionary 
strength  was  reduced,  Mr.  Sanders  stood  ever  ready  to 
assume  more  than  his  share  of  extra  work.  His  pub- 
lished reports  of  the  condition  of  the  various  parts  of 
the  field  under  his  care  are  models  of  completeness  and 
clearness. 

In  1858  the  mission  made  a  new  departure  in  the 
matter  of  education.  A  committee,  of  which  Mr.  San- 
ders was  a  member,  was  appointed  to  report  on  the 
formation  and  plan  of  a  school  for  the  training  of  mis- 

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Williams  College  and  Missions 

siori  helpers.  The  report  of  the  committee  was  adopted, 
and  the  buildings  of  the  seminary  at  Batticotta,  which 
had  been  temporarily  suspended  three  years  before, 
were  repaired  and  on  the  29th  of  March  the  "Training 
and  Theological  Institution"  was  opened,  and  the 
young  men  (fourteen  in  number)  selected  by  the  mis- 
sion to  enter  the  school  commenced  their  studies  under 
the  care  of  Mr.  Sanders  as  principal.  In  carrying  out 
the  design  of  the  school,  to  train  pious  natives  for  pas- 
tors and  helpers,  the  Tamil  language  was  the  means  of 
instruction.  The  principalship  of  this  school  and  other 
educational  matters  of  the  mission  were  henceforth  to 
occupy  a  large  part  of  Mr.  Sanders'  time,  while  preach- 
ing, pastoral  duties,  and  touring  were  still  continued. 
In  a  tour  made  in  1862  through  the  Northern  Province 
of  Ceylon,  he  and  his  companions  "travelled  350  miles, 
visited  forty-five  different  villages,  addressed  on  the 
subject  of  personal  salvation  2200  persons,  distributed 
about  26,000  pages  of  religious  tracts,  sold  373  volumes 
of  books,  of  which  five  were  Bibles  and  151  portions  of 
Scripture,  and  realized  from  sales  $16.67." 

The  exhausting  nature  of  these  tours,  added  to  the 
duties  of  teaching  and  preaching  and  the  care  of  the 
churches  in  a  debilitating  climate,  began  to  tell  upon  the 
health  of  Mr.  Sanders  and  made  necessary  the  period 
of  recreation  which  he  took  in  this  country  in  1866-67. 
That  on  his  return  to  his  field  he  entered  upon  his  va- 
ried duties  with  his  old-time  fervor  and  self-forgetful- 
ness  is  evidenced  by  the  first  messages  sent  home  by  him 
after  his  return,  when  he  reports  "a  week's  work  at  the 
islands,"  where  they  "visited  1122  houses,  conversed 
with  3024  persons,  held  several  meetings,  and  distrib- 
uted and  sold  Scripture  portions  and  tracts."  In  an- 
other letter  he  speaks  of  the  examination  of  village 
schools  and  of  a  day  spent  at  Oodooville,  where  there 
were  present  294  children,  nearly  filling  the  church.  In 

[326] 


Biographical  Sketches 

the  midst  of  these  varied  and  arduous  labors  there  came 
upon  him  the  heavy  bereavement  of  the  death  of  his 
wife,  who  had  been  his  faithful  companion  and  helper 
in  the  mission  for  seventeen  years.  But  a  few 
weeks  after  this  sad  event,  he  writes  that  the  mission 
had  asked  him  to  take  the  duties  of  secretary,  treasurer, 
and  depositary,  and  the  editorship  of  the  Morning  Star, 
while  the  Training  and  Theological  Institution  was  still 
in  his  charge.  At  the  same  time  there  was  included  in 
his  duties  the  evangelistic  work  of  Chavakachcherri, 
Manepay,  Batticotta,  and  the  islands,  this  work  embrac- 
ing churches,  congregations,  colportage  tours,  meet- 
ings, etc.  About  this  time  he  was  unanimously  chosen 
to  become  the  leader  of  the  new  educational  enterprise 
— Jaffna  College.  In  1867  there  had  been  held  a  meet- 
ing of  the  mission,  where  it  was  resolved  that  an  effort 
should  be  made  to  raise  funds  in  the  Island  for  the  en- 
dowment of  the  native  professorships,  and  that  an  ap- 
peal be  made  through  the  Board  to  the  churches  of 
America  for  a  fund  for  the  president's  chair  and  for 
some  other  needful  expenses.  The  native  endowment 
had  been  pledged,  and  in  1869,  by  permission  of  the 
Board  and  of  the  Ceylon  Mission,  Mr.  Sanders  returned 
to  America  to  raise  the  further  endowment.  The  Mis- 
sionary Herald  for  September,  1870,  contains  an  arti- 
cle by  Mr.  Sanders  on  "The  Batticotta  Seminary,  and 
the  Proposed  Jaffna  College,"  in  which  he  sets  forth  the 
plan  and  needs  of  the  new  institution.  For  a  year  and 
a  half  he  labored  incessantly  and  unsparingly  upon  this 
hard  task,  finally  achieving  success.  But  he  had  accom- 
plished his  purpose  at  the  cost  of  his  health.  It  was  in 
accordance  with  the  best  medical  advice  and  his  own 
better  judgment  that  he  should  then  take  absolute  rest 
for  some  months.  The  urgent  needs  of  the  mission, 
however,  combined  with  his  characteristic  self-renuncia- 
tion, took  him  back  to  Ceylon,  where  he  again  plunged 

[327] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

into  work  with  the  fatal  issue  which  physicians  had 
predicted.  He  died  of  apoplexy  at  Batticotta  August 
29,  1871,  only  eight  weeks  after  his  return  to  the  mis- 
sion. His  death  came  as  a  crushing  blow  to  his  col- 
leagues. He  had  been  to  them  their  "strong  tower"; 
they  had  thought  him  equal  to  any  burden.  But  espe- 
cially were  the  hopes  and  plans  of  his  brethren  respect- 
ing the  proposed  college  thrown  into  temporary 
confusion.  In  the  effort  to  place  this  enterprise  upon 
a  firm  financial  basis,  he  had  been  looked  upon  as  the 
standard-bearer.  Had  Mr.  Sanders  lived,  he  would 
have  been  the  logical  candidate  for  the  first  presidency 
of  Jaffna  College.  Williams  College  traditions  were 
strong  in  the  educational  work  at  Batticotta.  Besides 
Mr.  Sanders,  two  other  Williams  men — Henry  II. 
Hoisington,  of  the  class  of  1828,  and  Cyrus  Taggart 
Mills,  of  the  class  of  1844 — had  been  principals  of  the 
seminary.  But  aside  from  the  matter  of  sentiment  Mr. 
Sanders'  name  had  been  brought  into  prominence  with 
reference  to  the  presidency  of  Jaffna  College,  not  only 
by  his  familiarity  with  and  success  in  the  educational 
work  of  the  Seminary  and  Training  School,  but  by  the 
efforts  he  had  made  to  secure  the  endowments  for  the 
enlarged  institution. 

The  following  extracts  concerning  the  life  and  char- 
acter of  Mr.  Sanders  are  from  letters  written  by  two 
of  his  colleagues.  Rev.  William  E.  De  Riemer  wrote: 
"Our  regard  for  our  departed  brother,  I  may  say, 
amounted  almost  to  admiration.  He  was  admirably 
adapted  to  mission  work.  He  had  a  most  comprehen- 
sive view  of  the  wants  of  the  field ;  was  a  true  friend  of 
the  Tamil  people;  would  listen  to  their  sorrows  and 
joys  and  difficulties;  and  when  he  could  not  approve, 
he  had  the  happy  faculty  of  not  offending  by  his  coun- 
sel. He  had  a  most  remarkable  equanimity  of  mind, 
never  angered  under  the  shortcomings  of  servants  or 

[  328] 


Biographical  Sketches 

helpers,  but  charitable  towards  all.  He  wore  always  a 
look  of  wonderful  cheerfulness,  and  his  frequent  calls 
at  our  house  made  us  feel  stronger  and  livelier  than 
before  he  came.  He  had  indomitable  energy,  and  fore- 
sight to  arrange  for  his  labor  far  in  the  future.  He 
was  also  a  model  of  promptness  and  precision,  as  de- 
pendent upon  his  watch  as  upon  his  feet.  His  servants 
almost  invariably  knew,  early  each  morning,  his  princi- 
pal appointments  for  the  day.  He  loved  the  brethren 
of  the  mission,  and  was  fond  of  asking  their  advice.  He 
seemed  omnipresent  in  his  field,  visiting,  with  happy 
effect,  every  family  of  his  out-stations,  and  contriving 
to  speak  a  word  or  two  with  every  person  who  showed 
any  interest  in  Christianity.  Such  a  worker  is  rarely 
found  on  foreign  soil.  May  the  Lord  raise  up  many 
more  like  him  in  this  constant  devotion  to  his  Saviour's 


cause." 


Rev.  Eurotas  P.  Hastings  wrote:  "For  eighteen 
years  I  have  been  intimately  associated  with  him  in  the 
missionary  work,  and  I  have  always  found  him  a  genial 
companion,  an  efficient  co-laborer.  He  had  character- 
istics which  admirably  fitted  him  for  work  in  the 
foreign  field.  He  was  always  willing  to  take  any  posi- 
tion assigned  to  him,  and  to  work  to  the  extent  of  his 
ability;  was  systematic  in  his  plans,  prompt  in  meeting 
appointments,  most  persevering  in  his  labors,  not  eas- 
ily deterred  by  obstacles,  not  easily  discouraged.  What- 
ever he  undertook  he  pursued  with  energy  and 
earnestness.  He  was  very  conservative,  very  cautious, 
but  never  averse  to  change  when  there  was  a  prospect 
of  good  to  the  work;  and  when  any  plan  was  adopted, 
whether  it  fully  met  his  views  or  not,  he  could  always  be 
depended  upon  for  hearty  cooperation. 

"He  possessed  largely  the  confidence  and  affection 
of  the  native  Christians,  and  the  respect  of  the  heathen 
with  whom  he  was  brought  in  contact.  He  was  judi- 

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Williams  College  and  Missions 

cious  in  counsel,  conciliatory  in  his  treatment  of  others, 
knew  how  to  sympathize  with  those  in  sorrow,  and  was 
kind  to  all.  The  training  school,  over  which  he  pre- 
sided with  great  efficiency  for  many  years,  will  feel  his 
death  deeply." 

Mr.  Sanders  was  married  in  Peru,  Massachusetts, 
September  4,  1851,  to  Georgianna,  daughter  of  Rev. 
Joseph  and  Ruby  (Hyde)  Knight.  She  died  at  Cey- 
lon, November  2,  1868. 

He  next  married,  on  April  6,  1870,  at  Adams,  New 
York,  Miss  Carrie  E.  Webb,  daughter  of  Walter  and 
Lucy  (Salisbury)  Webb,  and  granddaughter  of  Wil- 
liam and  Lois  (Strong)  Webb,  and  of  Nicholas  and 
Caroline  (Lord)  Salisbury,  and  a  descendant  of  Elder 
William  Brewster,  who  came  from  England  on  the 
Mayflower. 

By  his  first  wife  he  had  five  sons,  and  by  his  second 
wife  one  son.  All  his  children  survived  him.  One  son, 
Rev.  Charles  S.  Sanders,  a  graduate  of  Amherst  Col- 
lege, and  of  the  Hartford  Theological  Seminary,  was 
missionary  in  Turkey,  and  died  at  Aintab,  October  27, 
1906. 

Four  sons  are  still  living:  Joseph  Anthony  San- 
ders, M.D.,  of  the  medical  staff  at  the  Clifton  Springs 
Sanitarium;  Rev.  William  Henry  Sanders,  D.D. 
(Williams  1877),  of  the  West  Central  African  Mis- 
sion of  the  American  Board;  Rev.  Frank  Knight  San- 
ders, Ph.D.,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  President  of  Washburn 
College;  Walter  Edward  Sanders  (by  second  wife), 
Ph.B.,  mechanical  engineer,  Trenton,  New  Jersey. 


CLASS  OF  1847 

CHARLES  HUNT  GARDNER  was  born  in  Worth- 
ington,  Massachusetts,  April  18,  1820,  and  came 
to  college  from  that  place.  David  A.  Wells  was  a 

[  330] 


Biographical  Sketches 

classmate,  and  two  of  the  members  of  his  class,  Lin- 
coln and  Phillips,  subsequently  became  professors  in 
their  Alma  Mater.     In  college  Gardner  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Mills  Theological  Society.     He  left  college 
before  the  end  of  his  college  course  and  received  his 
degree  in  1851  as  of  the  class  of  1847.     Upon  leaving 
college  he  taught  for  a  time  in  a  boys'  school  at  Eliz- 
abeth, New  Jersey.     While  thus  engaged  he  received 
a  call  to  labor  as  a  missionary  among  the  Choctaw  In- 
dians.    He  established  a  new  mission  in  the  Choctaw 
Agency,  having  as  one  of  his  assistants  Rev.  Alfred 
Wright,   who   subsequently  became   Governor   of  the 
Choctaw  nation.     He  remained  in  this   service  until 
April,  1850,  when  the  declining  health  of  his  wife  made 
an    immedate    change    necessary.     In    September    of 
the  same  year  he  opened  a  school  in  the  old  academy 
at  Williamstown,  Massachusetts,  but  about  the  first  of 
January  of  1851,  he  accepted  a  call  to  the  principalship 
of  the  Ball  Seminary  at  Hoosick  Falls,  New  York.     In 
August  of  the  following  year  he  resigned  that  position 
to  take  charge  of  the  Cambridge  Washington  Acad- 
emy at  Cambridge,  New  York.     Here  his  labors  were 
many  and  arduous,  for  besides  attending  to  the  ordi- 
nary  duties   belonging   to   the    principalship,   he   had 
charge  of  a  State  Normal  Class,  and  the  supervision  of 
all  the  schools  in  the  place.     In  August,  1854,  he  was 
called  to  the  principalship  of  the  Hudson  River  In- 
stitute at  Claverack,  New  York,  and  entered  upon  his 
duties  there  in  the  following  month.     The  institution 
opened  in  November  with  400  scholars.     After  three 
years  of  excessive  labors  in  this  position,  his  health  be- 
came so  impaired  that  he  accepted  a  call  to  the  Rutgers 
Female  Institute,  in  the  city  of  New  York,  entering 
upon  his  duties  there  in  September,   1857.     At  that 
time  this  was  the  largest  school  for  girls  in  New  York 
City.     In  the  autumn  of  1858,  he  opened  an  institution 

[331] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

of  his  own  for  young  ladies  in  east  28th  Street,  where 
he  remained  seven  years,  when  he  purchased  a  school  in 
West  32d  Street.  After  remaining  there  five  years  he 
purchased  620  Fifth  Avenue,  where  he  continued  for 
more  than  thirty  years,  having  among  his  patrons  some 
of  the  most  notable  and  wealthy  of  New  York  families. 

He  died  in  New  York,  April  18, 1907.  The  funeral 
services  were  held  at  the  Collegiate  Church. 

Dr.  Gardner  received  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Phi- 
losophy from  Hamilton  College  in  1862.  On  August 
22,  1866,  he  was  ordained  an  evangelist  and  remained 
a  member  of  the  New  York  Presbytery,  preaching 
often  on  the  Sabbath. 

He  was  married  in  Williamstown,  Massachusetts, 
in  December,  1846,  to  Miss  Laura  M.  Chamberlain, 
who  died,  after  a  long  and  painful  illness,  March  5, 
1861.  He  next  married,  on  December  23,  1863,  Miss 
Mary  R.  Birge  of  Agawam,  Massachusetts,  who  died 
about  a  year  before  her  husband. 

By  his  first  marriage  he  had  two  sons  and  a 
daughter. 

CLASS  OF  1848 

ELI  CORWIN  was  born  in  Walkill,  New  York,  Oc- 
tober 30,  1824.  He  entered  college  as  a  Sophomore  in 
1845.  Among  his  classmates  at  Williams  were  Paul 
Ansel  Chadbourne  and  John  Gibson  McMynn.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  Philologian  Society,  of  which  he 
was  for  a  time  president,  and  was  also  a  member  of  the 
Mills  Theological  Society.  He  was  one  of  the  speak- 
ers at  Commencement,  the  subject  of  his  oration  being 
"Mind  Enslaved." 

After  graduation  he  studied  theology  at  Union 
Seminary,  where  he  was  graduated  in  1851.  He  was 
ordained  in  the  Thirteenth  Street  Presbyterian  Church 
of  New  York  City,  June  22  of  the  same  year.  On 

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Biographical  Sketches 

October  1  of  this  year  he  sailed  for  San  Francisco,  Cal- 
ifornia, by  the  way  of  Cape  Horn.  For  one  year  he 
was  pastor  of  a  church  in  San  Francisco,  and  from 
1852  to  1858  he  was  pastor  of  a  Presbyterian  church 
in  San  Jose,  California.  He  then  removed  to  the 
Hawaiian  Islands,  and  became  pastor  of  the  Fort 
Street  Congregational  Church  (composed  of  foreign 
residents),  in  Honolulu.  He  remained  in  this  position 
for  ten  years,  being  for  one  of  these  years  (1859-60) 
also  Acting  President  of  Oahu  College,  Cyrus  Taggart 
Mills  (Williams  1844)  being  called  to  the  presidency 
in  1860.  Dr.  Anderson's  book,  "The  Hawaiian  Is- 
lands," published  in  1865,  contains  the  following  pleas- 
ant references  to  Mr.  Corwin:  "Mr.  Corwin  has  been 
at  Honolulu  since  October,  1858,  and  has  a  convenient 
house  of  worship  which  cost  near  $15,000,  a  respectable 
and  well-satisfied  foreign  congregation,  an  ample  sup- 
port from  his  people,  and  rare  opportunity  for  exert- 
ing a  religious  influence."  The  following  passage  re- 
fers to  the  return  from  a  visit  to  Waimea:  "At  night 
we  went  on  board  the  Annie  Laurie,  with  our  good 
friends  Mr.  Corwin  and  Mr.  Wilder,  and  after  two 
nights  and  a  day,  which  we  shall  not  soon  forget,  landed 
at  Honolulu  early  on  Friday  morning. 

"Mr.  Corwin  proposed  walking  to  his  house,  and 
asked  of  me  the  loan  of  a  sandal-wood  stick,  given  me 
by  Mr.  Rice,  'to  keep  off  the  dogs.'  Not  many  days  after 
he  returned  me  the  stick  in  the  form  of  a  beautiful  cane, 
having  a  large  ivory  head,  but  made  no  explanations. 
To  my  great  surprise  it  proved,  that  the  ivory  head  was 
hollow,  and  filled  with  gold  coin  pieces,  and  small  cir- 
cular papers  written  over  in  this  manner: — 'Good  for 

-,  for  the  A.  B.  C.  F.  M.,  a  gift  from  -  -  to- 

wards the  expenses  of  your  visit.' ' 

In  1868  Mr.  Corwin  returned  to  California,  and 
for  a  year  was  pastor  of  the  Second  Congregational 

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Williams  College  and  Missions 

Church  in  Oakland,  and  for  the  years  1869-72  was  pas- 
tor of  the  Green  Street  Congregational  Church  in  San 
Francisco.  His  pastorate  here  was  a  notable  one,  and 
for  two  or  three  years  (1870-72),  he  was  also  associate 
manager  of  Mills  Seminary  and  financial  agent  of  the 
Pacific  Theological  Seminary. 

With  advancing  years  he  returned  to  the  East,  and 
held  pastorates  in  different  churches,  being  from  1872 
to  1875  pastor  of  a  Congregational  church  in  James- 
town, New  York;  from  1875  to  1880,  pastor  of  the 
First  Congregational  Church  in  Jacksonville,  Illinois; 
and  from  1880  to  1888,  pastor  of  a  Presbyterian  church 
in  Racine,  Wisconsin.  He  then  took  up  his  residence 
in  Chicago,  being  financial  secretary  of  the  Chicago 
Theological  Seminary  from  1888  to  1891. 

After  a  lingering  illness  he  died  in  Chicago,  August 
19,  1899. 

He  received  from  his  Alma  Mater  in  1873  the  hon- 
orary degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity.  He  was  for  a 
time  a  trustee  of  Oahu  College. 

On  July  16,  1851,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Henrietta 
S.  Howell  of  Newburgh,  New  York,  who  survived  him. 

CLASS  OF  1849 

EDWARD  GRIFFIN  BECKWITH  was  one  of  those  who, 
though  receiving  no  appointment  from  any  board  of 
foreign  missions,  yet  deserves  a  place  in  this  volume 
because  of  valuable  services  rendered  as  preacher  and 
teacher  in  foreign  fields.  He  entered  college  from 
Great  Barrington,  Massachusetts,  as  a  Freshman  in 
1845.  Among  his  classmates  were  John  Bascom,  Rob- 
ert Russell  Booth,  Henry  Martyn  Hoyt,  and  Charles 
Seymour  Robinson.  In  college  he  was  a  member  of 
the  Delta  Upsilon  Fraternity,  and  also  of  the  Philo- 
logian  Society,  of  which  he  became  one  of  the  presi- 
dents. He  at  once  took  and  maintained  a  high 

[334] 


Biographical  Sketches 

standard  of  scholarship,  graduating  with  the  highest 
honor.  The  subject  of  his  Valedictory  Address  was 
"Utility  of  the  Beautiful." 

The  following  sketch,  taken  from  the  Williams  Col- 
lege Obituary  Record,  was  prepared  by  Dr.  John  Bas- 
com,  a  classmate  of  Mr.  Beckwith: — "Edward  Griffin 
Beckwith  was  born  at  Great  Barrington,  Massachu- 
setts, November  16,  1826.  He  spent  his  early  years  on 
his  father's  farm,  about  one  and  a  half  miles  from 
Great  Barrington,  on  the  mountain  road  to  Stock- 
bridge.  He  had  three  brothers  and  one  sister.  He 
was  fitted  for  college  at  Great  Barrington  Academy, 
at  that  time  under  the  direction  of  James  Sedgwick. 
He  entered  Williams  College  in  the  fall  of  1845.  He 
was  valedictorian  of  his  class,  an  able  and  enterprising 
one.  This  distinction  he  gained  by  an  exact  discharge 
of  every  duty  and  by  evenly  good  work.  He  did  noth- 
ing carelessly,  shabbily,  or  ineffectually.  Very  few  at- 
tained a  life  so  quietly  and  firmly  self -centered.  He 
brought  to  every  task  diligence  and  good-will.  Temp- 
tation never  seemed  to  tempt  him.  The  motives  to 
goodness  and  success  were  always  sufficient  to  carry  him 
smoothly  onward.  He  was  kindly  and  cordial  in  his 
bearing  and  hardly  developed  a  fault;  unless  such  un- 
impeachable good  behavior  is  itself  a  provocation.  He 
was  hardly  brilliant,  hardly  progressive,  but  unsur- 
passed in  giving  at  all  times  due  weight  to  right  motives 
and  following  them  out  in  fitting  action.  His  life  was 
distinctly  spherical.  He  habitually  reached  the  cir- 
cumference and  never  broke  beyond  it.  He  seldom  re- 
turned to  college  after  leaving  it,  and  shifted  his  field 
to  points  of  labor  where  most  was  to  be  done  and  the 
largest  usefulness  secured. 

"The  first  year  after  graduation  was  spent  as  a 
teacher  in  Granby,  Connecticut;  the  second  as  teacher 
in  the  Normal  School  at  Westfield.  He  was  so  suc- 

[335  ] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

cessful  in  this  work  that  he  was  invited  to  take  charge 
of  the  educational  interests  in  the  Sandwich  Islands. 
This  invitation  he  accepted  and  had  under  his  own  di- 
rection the  more  advanced  pupils  of  the  native  popula- 
tion, and  the  children  of  missionaries.  Many  of  these 
children  came  later  to  Williams  College,  and  always 
spoke  with  enthusiasm  of  Beckwith's  work.  On  the 
voyage  to  the  Islands,  he  made  the  acquaintance  of  Car- 
oline Armstrong,  whom  he  afterward  married.  She 
was  the  sister  of  General  Samuel  C.  Armstrong,  to 
whom  so  large  a  debt  of  honor  is  due  from  us  all. 
Three  years  later  he  became  President  of  Oahu  Col- 
lege. This  position  he  held  for  five  years.  He  so  far 
pursued  his  studies  in  theology  as  to  be  licensed  to 
preach  in  1857.  In  1859  he  returned  to  the  United 
States,  and  spent  two  years  at  Andover  Seminary.  He 
was  pastor  of  three  churches  in  California,  and  finding 
his  health  somewhat  impaired,  took  at  the  end  of  this 
labor  a  rest  on  the  farm  at  Great  Barrington.  He  was 
invited  to  take  charge  of  the  Congregational  Church 
in  Waterbury,  Connecticut.  He  remained  in  this  posi- 
tion ten  years  and  left  it  with  many  regrets  on  the  part 
of  his  people.  He  was  an  interesting  preacher  and  a 
most  sympathetic  pastor.  His  warm,  constant  Chris- 
tian temper  made  his  work  in  a  high  degree  useful. 

"After  leaving  Waterbury  he  was  pastor  for  six 
years  of  the  Third  Congregational  Church  of  San 
Francisco.  He  then  removed  to  the  Sandwich  Islands, 
where  he  spent  the  remainder  of  his  life.  For  seven 
years  he  was  pastor  of  the  Central  Union  Congrega- 
tional Church  at  Honolulu.  He  was,  as  long  as  he  was 
able,  pastor  of  a  church  in  the  Island  of  Maui,  the  na- 
tive place  of  his  wife.  The  death  of  his  wife,  son  and 
son-in-law  left  him,  .for  his  last  happy  and  peaceful 
years,  in  the  home  of  his  daughter,  with  his  grandchil- 
dren about  him.  He  died  February  19,  1909. 

[336] 


Biographical  Sketches 

"Few,  indeed,  have  performed  their  life  work  with 
such  uniform  success,  with  such  habitual  enjoyment  and 
such  constant  acceptance.  He  drew  strength  from  the 
things  which  occupied  him,  and  returned  it  in  full  meas- 
ure to  those  about  him.  A  depth,  diligence,  and  har- 
mony in  work  belonged  to  him,  which  made  life 
a  perpetual  pleasure,  and  occupied  him  fully  with  its 
aims  and  rewards.  He  understood  its  enjoyments 
and  had  no  need  that  any  one  should  point  them 
out." 

The  following  extract  from  the  Congregational 
Year  Book  for  1910  gives  in  order,  with  dates,  the  sev- 
eral positions  occupied  by  Dr.  Beckwith:  "Was  a 
teacher  in  Royal  School  in  Honolulu,  T.  H.,  1851-54. 
President  of  Oahu  College,  1854-59.  Ordained,  Feb- 
ruary 3,  1857.  Pastorates:  pastor,  Sacramento,  Cali- 
fornia, 1859-60;  pastor,  Third  Church,  San  Francisco, 
California,  1862-67;  principal  Oakland  Collegiate 
School,  1867-69;  pastor,  Second  (now  Plymouth) 
Church,  San  Francisco,  California,  1869-70;  pastor, 
Second  Church,  Waterbury,  Connecticut,  1871-81; 
pastor,  Third  Church,  San  Francisco,  California,  1881- 
87;  pastor,  Central  Union  Church,  Honolulu,  T.  H., 
1887-93;  pastor,  Foreign  Protestant  Church,  Maka- 
wao,  Maui,  T.  H.,  1894-1905;  pastor,  Hamakuapoko, 
T.  H.,  1905  until  death." 

Williams  College  conferred  on  him  the  honorary 
degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity  in  1874. 

JOSEPH  DWIGHT  STRONG,  son  of  Joseph  and  Rhoda 
C.  (Gates)  Strong,  and  brother  of  John  Cotton  Strong 
(Williams  1843),  was  born  in  Granby,  Connecticut, 
June  5,  1823.  He  entered  college  as  a  Freshman  in 
1845.  Among  his  classmates  were  John  Bascom,  Ed- 
ward Griffin  Beckwith,  Robert  Russell  Booth,  Henry 
Martyn  Hoyt,  and  Charles  Seymour  Robinson.  He 

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Williams  College  and  Missions 

was  a  member  of  the  Philologian  Society  and  of  the 
Mills  Theological  Society.  He  was  one  of  the  speakers 
at  Commencement,  the  subject  of  his  oration  being, 
"Theory  of  Punishment."  He  studied  theology  at  the 
Theological  Institute  of  Connecticut,  where  he  was 
graduated  in  1852.  He  was  for  a  time  settled  over  the 
Congregational  Church  at  Westport,  Connecticut.  In 
1855  he  removed  to  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  where  he  be- 
came pastor  of  the  Fort  Street  Church,  in  Honolulu, 
being  one  of  the  predecessors  of  Eli  Corwin  (Williams 
1848).  He  was  also  Secretary  and  Treasurer  of  the 
Directors  of  the  Free  Schools  of  Honolulu.  In  1858 
he  removed  to  California,  preaching  four  years  in  Oak- 
land, and  subsequently  in  San  Francisco.  In  1867  he 
returned  to  the  East. 

He  died  in  1886. 

He  was  married  September  7,  1852,  to  Miss  Marga- 
ret B.  Bixby,  who  died  July  24,  1866. 


CLASS  OF  1851 

JERRE  LORENZO  LYONS,  son  of  Jerre  Lyons,  and 
grandson  of  Dr.  Jerre  and  Mary  (Richards)  Lyons, 
was  born  in  Montrose,  Pennsylvania,  April  18,  1824. 
His  mother  was  Melinda,  daughter  of  Rodolphus  and 
Hildah  (Bicknell)  Bennett.  He  was  the  son  of  pious 
parents.  The  father  was  a  merchant  by  occupation. 
An  uncle,  Rev.  Lorenzo  Lyons,  was  one  of  the  first 
missionaries  to  the  Sandwich  Islands.  The  son  pre- 
pared for  college  in  Oxford  Academy,  Chenango 
County,  New  York,  and  entered  Williams  as  a  Sopho- 
more in  1848.  For  a  time  before  entering  college  he 
was  principal  of  the  academy  in  Montrose.  In  college 
he  joined  the  Philologian  Society  and  the  Mills  Theo- 
logical Society.  He  was  one  of  the  speakers  at  Com- 
mencement, the  subject  of  his  oration  being  "Hats." 

[838] 


Biographical  Sketches 

After  graduation  he  entered  Union  Theological  Semi- 
nary, where  he  was  graduated  in  1854.  He  was  or- 
dained by  the  Presbytery  at  Montrose,  November  9 
of  the  same  year,  Rev.  Dr.  Pomeroy  preaching  the  ser- 
mon from  Revelation  III,  8,  "Behold  I  have  set  before 
thee  an  open  door."  On  the  21st  of  the  following 
month,  he  and  his  wife,  with  some  others,  sailed  from 
Boston  for  Smyrna,  under  appointment  of  the  Ameri- 
can Board,  to  join  the  Syria  Mission.  He  reached  Bei- 
rut February  26,  1855,  and  during  the  summer  of  that 
year  he  resided  at  Ain  Zehalta,  an  Arab  village  of  600 
or  700  inhabitants,  situated  upon  the  high  ridge  of  Leb- 
anon. Here  he  could  escape  the  heat  of  the  plain,  and 
also  have  good  facilities  for  studying  the  Arabic  lan- 
guage. Mr.  Lyons  was  also  interested  in  the  people, 
who  were  a  mixture  of  Druzes,  Greek  Catholics,  and 
Maronites,  and  whom  he  described  as  exceedingly  hos- 
pitable, social,  and  polite,  but  deeply  sunk  in  ignorance 
and,  in  matters  of  religion,  bigoted  and  superstitious. 
Although  his  efforts  were  viewed  with  jealousy  by  the 
Greek  Catholic  priest,  Mr.  Lyons  was  enabled  to  at- 
tract a  few  to  attend  religious  worship  at  his  house.  In 
May  of  the  following  year  he  and  Mrs.  Lyons  were 
transferred  from  Beirut  to  Tripoli,  being  accompanied 
by  Mr.  Henry  H.  Jessup  (Yale  1851),  who  had  re- 
cently entered  the  field.  Here  they  began  regular  serv- 
ices in  the  Arabic  on  the  Sabbath.  This  station  was  an 
important  one,  being  the  center  of  operations  for  the 
large  Christian  population  around  it.  Within  a  day's 
ride  of  Tripoli  there  are  upwards  of  100  Christian  vil- 
lages, comprising  a  population  of  about  50,000  souls. 
In  July,  on  account  of  the  heat  of  the  plains,  they  re- 
tired for  a  few  weeks  to  Duma,  a  village  on  Lebanon, 
about  eight  hours  distant  and  to  the  southeast  of  Trip- 
oli. The  inhabitants  of  this  village,  numbering  600  or 
700,  were  mostly  Greeks  and  Greek  Catholics,  from 

[339] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

whom  the  missionaries  attracted  good  congregations  on 
the  Sabbath.  In  December  of  1856,  girls'  schools  were 
started  in  Tripoli.  Some  months  later  a  boys'  school 
was  opened  in  the  port  of  that  town,  a  city  about  one- 
third  the  size  of  Tripoli,  and  having  about  6000  inhabi- 
tants. In  his  report  for  the  station  at  Tripoli,  rendered 
in  1858,  Mr.  Lyons  speaks  of  the  success  of  the  Sabbath 
services  held  at  his  own  house,  and  of  the  opportunities 
for  holding  intercourse  with  the  Mohammedans.  Oc- 
tober 24  of  that  year  was  an  eventful  day  for  the  mis- 
sion, as  it  was  the  day  of  the  opening  of  the  first 
Protestant  chapel  for  the  worship  of  God  in  that  city. 
The  report  of  the  following  year  made  mention  of  three 
schools,  with  ninety  pupils  connected  with  the  station, 
of  which  the  girls'  school  was  especially  prosperous,  a 
public  examination  in  which  eliciting  a  commendatory 
article  in  an  Arabic  newspaper.  The  same  report 
speaks  of  the  sale  of  twenty-three  copies  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, and  138  copies  of  the  Psalms.  Since  the  field 
occupied  by  the  station  contains  several  hundred  vil- 
lages in  a  district  of  1500  square  miles,  there  was  need 
of  much  touring.  Mr.  Lyons  made  several  tours  and 
visited  more  than  forty  villages  on  one  of  these  tours, 
pursuing  a  northeasterly  course  along  the  ridge  of 
Lebanon,  and  penetrating  as  far  as  the  ancient  city 
of  Akkar.  A  portion  of  the  country  passed  over 
was  never  before  visited,  so  far  as  is  known,  by 
missionaries. 

In  1860  the  mission  in  Syria  was  interrupted  by  a 
civil  war  of  unexampled  barbarity,  one  of  the  stations 
being  nearly  blotted  from  existence,  and  those  portions 
of  the  mountains  where  the  Protestant  influence  was 
strongest  being  desolated  with  fire  and  sword.  Many 
thousands  of  widows-and  fatherless  children  in  the  vil- 
lages of  Lebanon  became  dependent  on  charity  for  shel- 
ter, clothing,  and  food.  Tripoli  was  almost  the  only 

[340] 


Biographical  Sketches 

town  of  importance  in  Syria  that  remained  undisturbed 
during  the  war.  Mr.  Lyons,  accompanied  by  Antonius 
Yanni,  American  Vice-Consul  at  Tripoli,  made  a  visit 
to  the  villages  in  the  vicinity  of  Baalbec,  in  behalf  of  the 
Anglo-American  Relief  Committee,  to  extend  chari- 
table aid.  Of  the  districts  visited,  Mr.  Lyons  wrote: 
"The  district  which  we  had  now  traversed,  called  Belad 
Baalbec,  extends  from  the  source  of  the  river  Orontes, 
on  the  north,  to  Zaleh  on  the  south.  It  is  about  forty 
miles  in  length,  and  varies  from  four  to  ten  miles  in 
breadth.  In  this  area,  of  some  240  square  miles,  there 
are  fifty-two  villages,  with  an  aggregate  population 
(exclusive  of  Zaleh)  of  14,500  souls,  nearly  three- 
fourths  of  whom  are  nominal  Christians,  the  remain- 
der being  Moslems  and  Metawales.  All  the  Christian 
villages  in  the  district,  some  thirty-six  in  number,  had 
been  plundered,  and  twenty-six  burned,  thus  reducing 
the  whole  Christian  population  of  about  10,000  souls 
to  beggary  and  want.  The  Christians  of  this  part  of 
Syria,  unlike  the  Maronites  of  Mount  Lebanon,  had 
had  no  quarrel  with  their  Metawale  neighbors,  and  the 
attack  made  upon  them  seems  to  have  been  unprovoked 
and  instigated  only  by  Moslem  fanaticism  and  hate." 
On  this  tour  there  were  constant  opportunities,  which 
Mr.  Lyons  improved,  of  preaching  the  gospel  to  atten- 
tive audiences. 

In  accordance  with  the  action  of  the  mission,  Mr. 
Lyons  was  transferred  in  1861  to  the  Sidon  station, 
while  Mr.  Jessup  continued  at  Beirut.  From  the  first 
the  work  at  Sidon  prospered.  In  February  of  1862  he 
wrote  of  having  twelve  or  fifteen  hopeful  candidates  for 
church  membership,  of  Sabbath  congregations  number- 
ing from  sixty  to  eighty,  and  of  the  formation  of  a  so- 
ciety for  the  purpose  of  securing  regular  contributions 
from  the  natives  to  the  cause  of  missions.  A  few 
months  later,  in  a  letter  which  proved  to  be  his  last  from 

[341] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

this  field  to  be  published  in  the  Missionary  Herald,  he 
gave  an  account  of  a  tour  to  Tyre,  Bussa,  Acre,  and 
other  places,  in  all  of  which  he  saw  signs  of  prom- 
ise and  found  new  openings  for  the  entrance  of  the 
gospel. 

For  some  time,  owing  to  the  demands  of  the  fields 
where  he  had  labored,  Mr.  Lyons  had  been  overwork- 
ing, and  in  1863  he  was  compelled  by  ill  health  to  return 
to  this  country,  where  he  was  laid  aside  from  work  for 
eight  years.  Of  this  period,  the  years  1864  and  1871 
were  spent  in  Montrose,  and  the  intervening  years  at 
South  Berwick,  Maine.  Dr.  Calvin  C.  Halsey,  one  of 
the  two  surviving  members  of  the  class  of  1844,  a  for- 
mer and  present  resident  of  Montrose,  has  supplied  the 
following  reminiscences  of  Mr.  Lyons:  "In  1863  Mr. 
Lyons  returned  from  Syria,  broken  in  health.  In  July 
and  August  of  that  year  I  was  in  the  Emergency  Serv- 
ice of  the  United  States  Government.  My  health  gave 
way  to  such  an  extent  that  I  was  unable  to  follow  my 
profession  in  the  summer  of  1864.  We  were  two  inva- 
lids, and,  in  quest  of  health,  went  with  my  horse  and 
carriage  to  attend  the  Commencement  at  Williams. 
We  drove  twelve  or  fifteen  miles  in  the  early  part  of  the 
day  and  about  as  much  more  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
day,  resting  while  it  was  hot.  We  visited  relatives  of 
his  at  Lanesboro,  Pennsylvania,  and  Cairo,  New  York. 
We  greatly  enjoyed  going  through  the  country  in  this 
way.  We  stopped  in  Williamstown  near  the  Hoosic 
Bridge  on  the  Pownal  road,  with  a  lady  who  had 
been  a  pupil  of  Mr.  Lyons.  A  telegram  summoned 
him  to  South  Berwick,  Maine,  and  I  returned  home 
alone." 

In  1872  Mr.  Lyons  became  Superintendent  of  the 
American  Bible  Society  in  Florida,  being  located  at 
Jacksonville.  This  position  he  held  for  twelve  years. 
In  1885  he  removed  from  Jacksonville  to  Waldo,  Flor- 

[342] 


Biographical  Sketches 

ida,  where  he  took  charge  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 
In  January,  1888,  he  resigned  that  charge  and  returned 
to  Jacksonville,  seeking  relief  from  his  disease,  he  being 
a  sufferer  from  neuralgia,  which  resulted  from  a  sun- 
stroke received  in  Syria.  Pie  died  in  Jacksonville, 
March  1,  1888. 

For  twelve  years  he  was  the  stated  clerk  of  the  Pres- 
bytery of  East  Florida. 

He  received  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity  from 
Maryville  College  in  1887. 

"He  was  a  man  greatly  esteemed  by  all  who  knew 
him  and  will  be  greatly  missed,  not  only  in  the  immedi- 
ate field  of  his  labor,  but  in  all  the  State,  where  his  wise 
foresight  and  judicious  work  brought  liberal  return  to 
the  kingdom  of  Christ."  A  tribute  to  his  memory  was 
prepared  by  Rev.  Dr.  Charles  A.  Stoddard  (Williams 
1854)  and  published  in  the  Obituary  Record  of  the 
Union  Theological  Seminary. 

Dr.  H.  H.  Jessup  wrote  of  him:  "His  foreign  mis- 
sionary experience,  his  affability,  his  knowledge  of  hu- 
man nature,  and  his  conscientious  fidelity  to  the  work  of 
his  Master  made  him  acceptable  to  the  people.  He  had 
a  keen  sense  of  humor,  was  a  fine  musician,  fond  of 
travel,  genial  in  his  intercourse  with  the  Syrian  people, 
and  wise  in  counsel.  He  longed  to  return  to  Syria,  but 
his  physician  would  not  consent." 

Mr.  Lyons  was  married  October  26,  1854,  to  Miss 
Catharine  N.  Plumer,  of  South  Berwick,  Maine,  sister 
of  Alexander  R.  Plumer,  missionary  in  Western  Tur- 
key. She,  with  a  son,  of  six  children  born  to  them,  sur- 
vived her  husband.  She  resides  in  Montrose.  The  son, 
John  Plumer  Lyons,  who  was  graduated  at  Harvard 
in  1882,  is  engaged  in  editorial  work  in  New  York 
City. 

The  following  letter  was  written  by  one  of  the  two 
surviving  classmates  of  Mr.  Lyons. 

[343] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

New  York,  June  12,  1911. 
Professor  John  H.  Hewitt, 
Williams  College, 

Williamstown,  Mass. 
Dear  Sir: — 

Your  letter  of  the  8th  inst.  in  regard  to  my  class- 
mate, Jerre  Lorenzo  Lyons,  D.D.,  is  received.  I  fear, 
however,  I  cannot  furnish  you  with  such  recollections 
of  him  in  college  as  will  be  of  service  to  you  in  your 
proposed  philanthropic  work.  Of  course,  I  knew  him 
quite  well  during  our  college  course.  Was  not  espe- 
cially intimate  with  him,  but  could  not  fail  to  speak  of 
him  in  the  highest  praise  as  a  friend,  scholar,  and 
classmate. 

It  seems  to  me,  upon  reflection,  that  in  our  day 
classmates  were  all  brothers;  in  fact,  I  am  inclined  to 
the  belief  that  the  tie  of  brotherhood  was  somewhat 
closer  drawn  in  our  day.  This  by  reason  of  smaller 
classes  and  more  democratic  class  of  students  in  col- 
lege attendance.  However,  I  may  be  mistaken;  my 
viewpoint  is  limited. 

Classmate  Lyons  needs  no  eulogy  from  me  or  any 
man.  His  ambition,  his  devotion  to  his  profession,  his 
prompt  enlistment  as  a  missionary  in  those  early  mis- 
sion days,  and  his  ten  years'  service  in  foreign  fields  is 
his  best  eulogy. 

Dr.  Lyons  was  not  a  robust  man;  small  in  stature 
and  frail  in  physique.  He  called  to  see  me  in  New  York 
on  his  return  to  America  from  Syria  in  the  years 
1872  and  1874,  and  if  I  remember  correctly  he  said  his 
labors  abroad  had  told  upon  his  health. 

I  thank  you  for  the  opportunity  of  recalling  him 
to  memory. 

Standing  as  I  do  oh  the  summit  of  the  allotted  years 
and  still  in  active  business,  with  only  one  classmate  now 
living,  your  recall  to  my  mind  the  name  of  one  who  long 


Biographical  Sketches 

ago   passed   on,    brings    premonition    that    should   be 
salutary. 

Yours  very  truly, 

S.  B.  GOOD  ALE. 

GLASS  OF  1852 

JOHN  KELLOGG  HARRIS,  the  only  child  of  Colonel 
John  Harris  and  Clarinda  Pamela  (Case)  Harris,  was 
born  February  16,  1832,  in  Ticonderoga,  Essex 
County,  New  York.  His  grandparents  on  his  father's 
side  were  Samuel  Harris,  who  was  said  to  have  been 
born  in  Williamstown,  Massachusetts,  about  1778  or 
1780,  and  Hannah  Barbara  (Hufnagel)  Harris,  whose 
father,  Michael  Hufnagel,  came  from  Frankfort-on- 
the-Main,  Germany,  to  New  York  City. 

Mr.  Harris  entered  Williams  as  a  Sophomore  in 
1849,  and  became  a  member  of  the  Philotechnian  So- 
ciety and  the  Mills  Theological  Society.  Among  his 
classmates  were  John  W.  Dickinson,  Charles  McEwen 
Hyde,  Arthur  Latham  Perry,  and  Lewellyn  Pratt. 
Three  of  his  classmates,  Hyde,  Marcusson,  and  Pixley 
served,  for  a  longer  or  shorter  time,  as  missionaries  in 
foreign  fields.  He  took  good  rank  as  a  scholar,  and 
after  graduation  he  joined  the  Choctaw  Mission,  in  Oc- 
tober, 1852,  several  others  going  to  this  mission  at  the 
same  time.  He  was  stationed  at  Norwalk,  where  he 
was  a  successful  teacher,  from  1852  to  1854.  Rev.  Al- 
fred Wright  (Williams  1812) ,  who  was  for  thirty  years 
a  devoted  and  faithful  preacher  of  Christ  among  the 
Indians,  was  still  a  member  of  this  mission,  being  lo- 
cated at  Wheelock. 

Mr.  Harris  had  the  advantage  of  entering  into 
the  labors  of  others.  The  mission  among  the  Choctaws 
had  been  commenced  by  Rev.  Cyrus  Kingsbury 
(Brown  University  1812)  in  1818.  At  that  time  the 
Choctaws  were  emphatically  a  pagan  and  savage  peo- 

[345] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

pie,  among  whom  the  worst  vices  of  heathenism  pre- 
vailed. Besides  polygamy,  infanticide,  wars,  and  fight- 
ings which  were  a  part  of  their  sad  heritage,  they  had 
engrafted  on  their  native  stock  some  of  the  worst  vices 
of  civilization.  They  were  essentially  a  drunken  peo- 
ple. At  the  end  of  thirty-five  years  all  this  was 
changed.  One-eighth  of  the  whole  tribe  belonged  to 
the  visible  church,  the  yearly  additions  to  the  church  for 
twelve  years  being  greater  in  proportion  to  the  number 
of  the  people  than  in  any  other  cluster  of  churches  in 
the  world.  Intemperance  was  held  in  check,  education 
was  highly  prized,  much  attention  was  paid  to  agricul- 
ture, the  people  were  living  under  a  system  of  good 
government,  and  in  various  other  ways  were  showing 
signs  of  advancing  civilization.  It  was  such  a  condi- 
tion of  affairs  which  Mr.  Harris  found  and  which  he 
helped  to  improve  during  his  short  period  of  service 
among  the  Choctaws. 

After  leaving  the  mission  he  spent  the  years  1854- 
56  and  1857-58  in  Union  Theological  Seminary.  After 
graduating  at  the  seminary  and  being  licensed  by  New 
York  Presbytery,  Mr.  Harris  went  in  September,  1858, 
to  Kerrs  Creek,  Virginia,  and  on  May  19  of  the  follow- 
ing year  he  was  ordained  by  Presbytery  at  Lexing- 
ton, Virginia.  From  1858  to  1861  he  served  as  stated 
supply  or  pastor  of  the  churches  at  Kerrs  Creek  and 
New  Monmouth.  Soon  after  the  breaking  out  of  the 
Civil  War  he  entered  the  hospital  service  of  the  Con- 
federate Army,  where  he  rendered  most  untiring  and 
self-sacrificing  labors.  During  the  latter  part  of  the 
war  he  was  in  the  regular  army  and  served  as  chap- 
lain of  the  23d  Battalion  of  the  Virginia  Volun- 
teer Infantry.  From  1865  to  1867  he  taught  in  the 
Lynchburg  Female -Seminary  and  preached  in  the 
churches  at  Elon  and  Amherst  Court  House,  Virginia. 
In  1867  he  moved  to  the  latter  place,  where  he  taught 

[846] 


Biographical  Sketches 

and  preached  for  two  years.  In  1869  he  moved  to  Har- 
rodsburg,  Kentucky,  where  he  became  Principal  of  the 
Harrodsburg  Female  College  and  was  pastor  of  the 
Kirkwood  church.  From  this  place  he  removed,  in 
1872,  to  Floyd,  Virginia,  where  he  became  pastor  of  the 
Jacksonville  church  and  was  stated  supply  of  the 
church  at  New  River.  The  church  at  Turtle  Rock  was 
also  organized  about  this  time  under  his  ministry.  In 
1882  he  moved  to  Nebraska,  becoming  stated  supply  at 
Red  Cloud  for  two  years  and  at  Scotia  for  five  years. 
In  1889  he  returned  to  Floyd,  Virginia,  where  he  re- 
sumed the  pastorate  of  the  Jacksonville  and  Turtle 
Rock  churches.  It  was  here  his  great  life  work  was 
done,  and  where  he  continued  to  reside  till  the  time 
of  his  death,  March  22,  1910. 

During  the  time  of  his  first  residence  in  Floyd  he 
established  Oxford  Academy,  over  which  he  presided 
with  great  ability  and  marked  success  for  many  years. 
In  all  he  taught  and  preached  in  Floyd  County  for  over 
thirty  years.  Under  his  able  management,  the  Acad- 
emy acquired  an  enviable  reputation  throughout  south- 
western Virginia,  and  students  came  to  the  school  from 
long  distances,  drawn  by  the  attractive  personality  of 
the  principal.  It  is  said  that  many  of  the  leading  men 
and  women  who  have  grown  up  in  that  section  of  Vir- 
ginia in  the  past  generation  received  their  training  un- 
der his  guidance. 

Mr.  Harris  was  a  man  of  superior  native  ability  and 
of  rare  intellectual  attainments,  to  which  were  joined 
the  graces  of  a  Christian  character.  Through  this  com- 
bination of  qualities  he  was  enabled  to  perform  his  ar- 
duous labors  for  the  cause  of  home  missions  and  to 
become  also  the  brilliant  and  successful  teacher. 

The  writer  of  the  memorial  adopted  by  the  Mont- 
gomery Presbytery  said  of  him :  "It  is  impossible  to  set 
forth  in  a  short  sketch  the  rare  combinations  of  gifts 

[847] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

and  qualities  of  mind  and  heart  which  he  possessed.  His 
mental  equipments  were  unusual.  .  .  .  His  imagina- 
tion was  intensely  active  and  soared  aloft,  but  his  judg- 
ment was  clear,  his  conclusions  sound,  logical,  and 
conservative.  To  his  familiar  acquaintance  with  the 
classics  he  added  a  wide  and  varied  knowledge  of  cur- 
rent topics,  in  which  he  felt  a  deep  interest  and  in  the 
discussion  of  which  he  displayed  keen  discernment.  His 
memory,  unimpaired  by  age,  enabled  him  to  bring  the 
wisdom  of  the  past  and  shed  its  light  upon  the  living 
issues  of  the  day  with  surprising  effect.  His  wit,  in 
which  there  was  never  a  sting,  brought  out  strange  con- 
trasts, odd  similitudes,  and  startling  combinations 
which  gave  a  freshness  and  added  zest  to  whatever  he 
said.  His  speeches  on  the  floor  of  Presbytery  and 
Synod  were  heartily  welcomed.  They  were  pithy,  to 
the  point,  and  usually  served  to  relieve  the  tension  of 
debate.  His  geniality  made  him  a  favorite  with  all 
classes.  In  his  later  years  he  was  pleased  to  class  him- 
self with  the  aged,  but  in  spirit  he  was  the  youngest  of 
the  young.  His  sympathy  was  tender  and  genuine. 
His  interest  in  others  was  keen,  far-reaching,  full  of 
love,  and  unselfish. 

"His  faith  was  of  that  strong  type  that  combines 
childlike  simplicity  with  a  clear  grasp  of  the  truth  after 
thorough  investigation.  His  independent  spirit  found 
its  chief  delight  in  surrender  to  the  will  of  his  Master, 
and  in  walking  humbly  with  his  God.  His  piety  had 
for  its  basis  the  eternal  verities,  and  prayer  was  his 
atmosphere." 

Mr.  Harris  was  married  June  12,  1857,  in  Brat- 
tleboro,  Vermont,  to  Miss  Chloe  Minerva  Bigelow. 
She  was  a  godly  woman,  well  endowed  with  rare  gifts 
of  mind  and  character,  cultivated  and  refined,  and  so, 
well  fitted  to  be  helpful  to  her  devoted  husband  in  his 
many  and  fruitful  labors.  She  died  in  1898.  Of  six 

[348] 


Henry  Albert  Schauffler 
Charles  McEwen  Hyde 
Arthur  Mitchell 


William  Tracy 
Nathan  Brown 
James  Herrick 


Samuel  Hutchings 
David  Coit  Scudder 
Stephen  Clapp  Pixley 


REPRESENTATIVES    OF    COLLEGE    CLASSES    OF    PERIOD     1825-1860 


Biographical  Sketches 

children  born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Harris,  two  sons  died 
in  infancy,  and  one  son,  Dr.  J.  Len  Harris,  died  in  Lex- 
ington, Kentucky,  in  1896,  leaving  a  widow  and  three 
children.  Three  daughters  are  living:  Mrs.  Clara 
Elizabeth  Harris  Akers,  Asheville,  North  Carolina; 
Mrs.  Susan  Maria  Harris  Hall  and  Miss  Mayday  A. 
Harris  of  New  York  City. 

CHARLES  McEwEN  HYDE,  oldest  son  of  Joseph 
and  Catherine  (McEwen)  Hyde,  was  born  in  New 
York  City  June  8,  1832.  He  was  the  grandson  of 
Alvan  and  Lucy  (Fessenden)  Hyde,  and  of  Charles 
and  Sarah  (Betts)  McEwen.  The  ancestors  of  the  Mc- 
Ewens  settled  in  Stratford,  Connecticut,  in  the  seven- 
teenth century.  The  grandfather,  Rev.  Alvan  Hyde, 
D.D.,  was  a  most  worthy  descendant  of  a  staunch  New 
England  family,  who  were  among  the  first  settlers  of 
Norwich,  Connecticut.  He  was  graduated  from  Dart- 
mouth College  in  1788,  and  in  1792  was  ordained  pas- 
tor of  the  church  in  Lee,  Massachusetts,  which  relation 
he  sustained,  with  remarkable  success,  for  more  than 
forty  years,  till  the  time  of  his  death,  in  1833.  For 
more  than  thirty  years  he  was  closely  associated  with 
the  friends  and  patrons  of  Williams  College.  He  was 
elected  trustee  of  the  college  in  1802,  and  vice-president 
in  1812,  both  of  which  offices  he  held  until  the  time  of 
his  death.  Four  of  his  sons  were  graduated  at  this  col- 
lege in  1815, 1822, 1826,  and  1834  respectively,  and  two 
grandsons  in  1852  and  1860  respectively.  Joseph 
Hyde,  the  father  of  the  subject  of  our  sketch,  was 
graduated  in  1822  and  was  tutor  in  the  college  1824-25. 
He  subsequently  studied  law  with  Burr  and  Benedict 
and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  New  York  City,  where 
he  began  the  practice  of  his  profession.  He  was  set- 
tled for  a  short  time  in  Palmyra,  New  York,  but  soon 
returned  to  New  York  City,  where  he  was  appointed 

[349] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

General  Agent  and  Assistant  Treasurer  of  the  Amer- 
ican Bible  Society,  which  position  he  held  for  sixteen 
years.  He  was  prominently  identified  with  Dr. 
Adams'  Church  and  was  active  in  its  councils.  He 
married  Catherine,  daughter  of  Judge  Charles  Mc- 
Ewen,  a  woman  of  rare  refinement  and  delicacy  of 
feeling,  and  a  lineal  descendant  of  one  of  the  Scotch 
Covenanters. 

Charles  McEwen  Hyde  was  thus  sprung  from  ex- 
cellent stock  on  both  sides.  The  nature  of  his  home 
training  was  of  the  best.  It  is  related  of  him  that  at 
the  age  of  three  years  he  took  part  in  the  family  wor- 
ship by  reading  the  Bible  in  turn  with  other  members 
of  the  family.  He  early  developed  a  taste  for  the  study 
of  language  and  was  thoroughly  trained  in  Latin  and 
Greek.  He  pursued  his  preparatory  studies  in  New 
York  City  and  Ware,  Massachusetts,  and  was  ready 
for  college  at  the  age  of  fourteen.  The  father,  thinking 
him  too  young  to  enter  college,  sent  him  to  Ware,  to 
obtain  some  idea  of  business  life  in  a  bank  where  the 
lad's  uncle  was  cashier.  He  entered  college  in  1848 
and  at  once  took  rank  among  the  foremost  scholars  of 
his  class.  He  was  a  member,  and  for  a  time  president, 
of  the  Philologian  Society,  the  records  of  which,  to- 
gether with  some  essays  preserved,  give  evidence  that 
in  college  he  did  much  distinctively  literary  work.  He 
was  also  a  member  of  the  Mills  Theological  Society. 
He  was  graduated  as  Valedictorian  of  his  class,  the  sub- 
ject of  his  valedictory  address  being  "Hidden  Power." 

A  classmate,  Rev.  Dr.  Lewellyn  Pratt,  of  Norwich, 
Connecticut,  has  given  a  pleasant  view  of  his  student 
life.  "It  is  a  great  pleasure,"  writes  Dr.  Pratt,  "to 
recall  a  student  life  so  nearly  ideal  as  that  of  Charles 
M.  Hyde.  He  entered  the  Freshman  class  in  Williams 
in  1848,  one  of  the  youngest  of  its  members,  took  the 
first  place  in  scholarship  at  once,  and  held  it  steadily 

[  350] 


Biographical  Sketches 

through  the  whole  course,  and  at  his  graduation  was 
the  valedictorian.  All  this  was  accomplished  with  such 
ease,  and  with  such  unconsciousness  of  doing  anything 
remarkable  or  being  superior  to  anybody,  that  it  seemed 
a  matter  of  course.  He  never  appeared  to  be  driven 
or  in  haste  but  was  always  prepared ;  was  about  equally 
successful  in  all  parts  of  the  curriculum,  and  had  leis- 
ure enough  to  do  a  large  amount  of  general  reading. 

"In  manner  he  was  always  a  gentleman,  careful  in 
dress  and  in  speech,  considerate  of  others,  unwilling  to 
give  or  take  offence,  affable  and  companionable,  so  un- 
hurried that  he  could  give  time  and  help  to  others ;  and 
commanded  the  respect  and  confidence  of  the  whole 
college.  He  could  enjoy  boyish  sports  with  the  rest; 
but  from  these  he  withdrew  when  they  became  coarse 
or  lawless.  He  was  a  model  of  good  manners  and  of  a 
clean  life,  and  yet  he  was  no  prig,  nor  ever  dreamed 
of  posing  as  a  model.  Gentlemanliness  and  correct  de- 
portment seemed  native  and  inherent  in  him,  and  in 
these  he  excelled  as  in  scholarship  with  the  same  un- 
consciousness and  absence  of  effort. 

"We  all  felt  that  back  of  all  this,  which  was  so  cor- 
rect and  admirable,  was  religious  principle.  He  had 
inherited  virtue,  had  been  well  trained,  he  had  made 
duty  his  guiding  star.  Reverent,  faithful,  true,  and 
pure,  he  had  a  charmed  life  in  the  midst  of  the  whirls 
and  tempests  and  temptations  of  college  life,  merited 
and  'obtained  a  good  report.' ' 

Another  classmate,  Rev.  Charles  J.  Hill,  D.D., 
gives  the  following  reminiscences:  "When  I  went  to 
Williams  College  in  1849  I  became  acquainted  with  a 
young  man  who  was  familiarly  called  *  Charlie  Hyde/ 
He  was  one  of  the  six  'Charlies'  of  our  class — all  good 
fellows. 

"He  was  physically  one  of  the  finest  looking  men 
in  the  class.  He  was  about  medium  height,  with  a  good 

[851] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

figure,  thick  black  hair,  a  smooth  face,  a  clear  blue  eye 
and  a  manly  bearing.  He  was  not  much  of  an  athlete, 
and  I  do  not  remember  that  he  cared  much  about  the 
gymnasium,  but  he  was  fond  of  walking,  and  I  recall 
with  pleasure  the  walks  we  took  together  up  West 
Mountain  and  over  the  hills  which  surround  Williams. 

"He  always  dressed  well  and,  coming  from  New 
York,  brought  its  style  with  him.  He  was  a  genial, 
kind,  courteous  gentleman.  We  all  loved  him  and 
acknowledged  that  he  was  the  most  popular  man  in 
our  class. 

"As  a  scholar  he  was  easily  preeminent,  always  ac- 
curate, ever  ready  to  respond  to  his  name,  never  care- 
less in  his  preparation  and  always  equal  to  any  demand 
put  upon  him.  It  was  no  surprise  to  any  of  us  when 
he  took  the  valedictory." 

His  thoughts  had  been  early  turned  to  the  ministry, 
and  after  graduation,  after  being  employed  for  a  time 
as  private  tutor  in  New  Haven,  Connecticut,  and 
Savannah,  Georgia,  he  entered  Union  Theological 
Seminary  in  1853.  His  studies  here  were  interrupted 
owing  to  the  necessity  of  his  obtaining  means  for  the 
completion  of  his  seminary  course.  For  three  years  he 
taught  in  a  school  established  by  his  father  in  Sheffield, 
Massachusetts,  devoting  much  time  out  of  school  hours 
to  carrying  on  the  farm  connected  with  the  school. 
The  last  two  years  of  his  theological  course  were  spent 
at  Princeton  Theological  Seminary,  where  he  was  grad- 
uated in  1860. 

His  first  pastoral  work  was  done  in  Goshen,  Con- 
necticut, where  he  supplied  the  pulpit  for  a  few  months. 
On  August  19,  1862,  he  was  ordained  and  installed  pas- 
tor of  the  Congregational  Church  in  Brimfield,  Massa- 
chusetts, Dr.  Hopkins  preaching  the  sermon.  After  a 
successful  pastorate  of  eight  years  in  this  place,  Mr. 
Hyde  accepted  a  call  as  successor  to  Rev.  Dr.  Munger, 

[352] 


Biographical  Sketches 

to  the  Center  Congregational  Church  of  Haverhill, 
Massachusetts,  where  he  was  installed  November  15, 
1870.  Here  he  was  confronted  with  the  problems  that 
belong  to  a  city  church  and  a  manufacturing  town. 
Here  also  were  opportunities  for  activity  outside  the 
church  organization.  Here,  aside  from  his  regular 
duties  as  preacher  and  pastor,  as  member  of  the  school 
board  and  of  the  Board  of  Visitors  of  Bradford  Acad- 
emy, as  an  energetic  worker  in  behalf  of  temperance, 
and  a  participant  in  the  discussions  of  the  Monday 
Evening  Club,  he  found  scope  for  all  his  culture  and  his 
great  executive  ability.  And  when,  on  December  15, 
1875,  the  Haverhill  pastorate  was  concluded,  men  bore 
witness  to  his  eminent  worth,  his  practical  ability,  his 
earnestness  and  resolution,  and  to  his  unwearied  devo- 
tion to  every  good  cause.  The  success  which  he  had 
achieved  in  his  pastorates  opened  to  him  that  wider 
field  in  which  he  was  to  spend  the  remaining  years  of 
his  life. 

In  1875  the  Prudential  Committee  of  the  Ameri- 
can Board  came  to  feel  that  the  work  of  the  Board  in 
the  Hawaiian  Islands  had  been  turned  over  to  native 
hands  too  soon,  and  that  this  work  needed  further  guid- 
ance, especially  in  the  matter  of  training  native  min- 
isters for  that  group  and  other  islands  in  Micronesia. 
The  committee  sought  for  a  man  of  wide  experience  in 
the  pastorate,  intelligent  and  tactful  in  dealing  with 
parish  problems,  one,  too,  capable  of  organizing  and 
conducting  a  training  school  for  those  who  should  be- 
come leaders  of  their  people.  The  choice  of  a  man  for 
a  position  of  such  varied  relations  happily  fell  upon  Dr. 
Hyde.  On  March  21,  1877,  farewell  exercises  were 
held  in  the  First  Congregational  Church  in  Chelsea, 
previous  to  the  departure  of  ten  missionaries  of  the 
Board,  among  whom  were  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Hyde.  Land- 
ing in  Honolulu  in  June,  1877,  he  organized  the  North 

[853] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

Pacific  Missionary  Institute,  of  which  he  was  principal 
for  twenty-two  years.  Very  soon  after  his  arrival  re- 
port came  back  that  Dr.  Hyde  was  "the  right  man  in 
the  right  place,"  and  succeeding  years  only  confirmed 
the  first  judgment.  He  was  an  accomplished  scholar 
and  an  experienced  pastor,  but  it  was  not  these  quali- 
ties that  secured  for  him  his  greatest  influence  with  the 
people.  In  showing  them  how  to  work  he  taught  them 
the  dignity  of  manual  labor,  he  made  himself  familiar 
with  the  needs  of  his  students  and  often  relieved  their 
temporal  needs ;  his  knowledge  of  business  affairs  made 
him  helpful  to  the  people  in  secular  matters.  His  home 
was  one  of  open  hospitality  to  students  and  others,  and 
soon  he  was  looked  upon  as  a  man  of  great  love.  It 
was  natural  that  such  a  personality  should  have 
made  a  deep  impression  on  all  with  whom  he  came  in 
contact. 

His  interest  in  education  was  not  confined  to  the 
institute  of  which  he  was  principal.  On  the  reorgan- 
ization of  the  Kawaiahao  Female  Seminary  he  was 
made  President  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  and  himself 
raised  money  in  the  States  with  which  to  put  up  a  mod- 
ern building.  He  was  commissioned  by  the  Hawaiian 
Board  to  reopen  the  female  school  which  had  been 
opened  at  Kohala  but  was  now  closed.  He  was  also 
made  chairman  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Pu- 
nahou  Preparatory  School  and  in  the  summer  of  1890 
spent  some  weeks  in  the  East  in  securing  a  suitable 
head  for  the  institution. 

The  educational  work  done  by  Dr.  Hyde  as  thus 
far  considered  was  connected  with  institutions  already 
established.  But  what  he  regarded  as  perhaps  the  most 
satisfactory  of  the  efforts  he  made  in  behalf  of  the  na- 
tive race,  was  the  assistance  he  rendered  in  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  Kamehameha  Schools.  These  were 
schools  established  by  Bernice  Pauahi  Bishop,  the  last 


Biographical  Sketches 

surviving  representative  of  the  royal  house.  She  had 
once  refused  the  offer  of  the  crown,  and  happily  mar- 
ried to  the  leading  banker  of  Honolulu,  Charles  K. 
Bishop,  she  devoted  herself  to  such  good  works  as 
would  advance  the  best  interests  of  her  people.  She 
sought  especially  to  give  the  Hawaiian  youth  superior 
educational  advantages,  and  consulted  Dr.  Hyde 
among  others  as  to  plans.  In  accordance  with  the 
plans  finally  adopted,  a  good  share  of  her  property, 
amounting  to  several  hundred  thousand  dollars,  was 
devoted  in  her  will  to  the  establishment  and  support 
of  schools  which  should  "provide  first  and  chiefly  a  good 
education  in  the  common  English  branches,  and  also 
instruction  in  morals  and  such  useful  knowledge  as  may 
tend  to  make  good,  industrious  men  and  women."  Dr. 
Hyde  was  one  of  the  five  trustees  selected  by  her  to 
carry  out  the  provisions  of  the  will,  and  as  he  was  the 
one  best  fitted  by  nature  and  training  to  speak  with 
authority  upon  educational  questions,  his  judgment  al- 
ways had  great  weight  with  his  colleagues.  There 
thus  came  to  him  an  opportunity  to  put  in  practice 
many  of  the  plans  to  which  he  had  already  given  much 
study.  The  success  of  the  schools  shows  the  wisdom 
of  Mrs.  Bishop  and  of  those  selected  to  carry  out  her 
plans. 

But  Dr.  Hyde's  interests  were  not  limited  to  edu- 
cational matters.  He  was  an  efficient  helper  in  vari- 
ous forms  of  evangelistic  and  public  work.  The  senti- 
ment of  the  Roman  poet  could  be  fittingly  applied  to 
him:  Homo  sum:  humani  nil  a  me  alienum  puto.  He 
took  an  early  interest  in  the  Chinese,  and  when  they 
came  to  form  a  church,  they  asked  Dr.  Hyde  to  draw 
up  a  covenant  and  articles  of  faith.  When  Sunday- 
school  work  was  developed  among  the  Portuguese,  the 
Hawaiian  Board  commissioned  Dr.  Hyde  to  procure 
workers  for  this  field.  The  well-organized  work 

[855  ] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

among  the  Japanese  is  to  be  traced  back  to  the  inter- 
est which  Dr.  Hyde  took  in  this  people  on  their  first 
arrival  in  the  Islands.  Indeed  he  regarded  his  work 
among  the  Japanese  as  the  romance  of  his  missionary 
career. 

In  the  discharge  of  his  duties  along  edu- 
cational and  evangelistic  lines,  he  never  shirked  the 
obligations  of  citizenship,  while  we  find  him  showing 
his  sympathy  with  the  general  interest  of  society  by 
establishing  the  Social  Science  Club,  and  aiding  in  the 
movements  for  the  foundation  of  the  Honolulu  Library 
and  Reading  Room  Association  and  of  the  "Bernice 
Pauahi  Bishop  Museum." 

In  1894,  feeling  that  his  own  services  could  not  be 
continued  indefinitely  and  anxious  to  render  his  expe- 
rience valuable  to  his  successor,  he  relinquished  three- 
quarters  of  his  salary  that  the  Board  might  engage  an 
associate  for  him  in  his  work.  In  1898  he  gave  tip  the 
rest  of  his  salary  though  still  continuing  his  services 
for  the  Board. 

After  a  severe  illness  in  1896,  from  which  he  never 
fully  recovered,  the  encroachment  of  disease  gradually 
enfeebled  him  and  it  became  evident  that  he  needed  ab- 
solute relief  from  his  work.  In  the  spring  of  1899  he 
made  the  long  journey  to  this  country,  where  he  visited 
his  older  son  and  passed  a  quiet  summer.  But  on  his 
return  to  his  home  he  sank  rapidly  and  died  October 
13,  1899,  in  the  68th  year  of  his  age. 

Impressive  funeral  services  were  held  in  Central 
Union  Church  of  Honolulu,  and  were  attended  by  a 
large  gathering  of  people,  with  representatives  of  all 
the  principal  religious,  educational,  and  social  organi- 
zations of  the  Islands.  The  casket  was  borne  to  the 
grave  by  eight  students  of  the  North  Pacific  Mission- 
ary Institute. 

The  Pacific  Commercial  Advertiser  of  October  14 

[  356] 


Biographical  Sketches 

contained  an  appreciative  notice  of  Dr.  Hyde,  in  which 
extended  reference  was  made  to  the  various  sorts  of 
service  rendered  by  him,  and  special  emphasis  was 
placed  upon  what  had  been  accomplished  by  the  North 
Pacific  Institute.  "From  this  institution,"  says  the 
writer  of  the  article,  "have  gone  forth,  under  the  train- 
ing of  Dr.  Hyde,  the  whole  circle  of  younger  men  who 
to-day  fill  the  pastorates  of  the  Hawaiian  churches." 
And  after  referring  to  some  of  these  pastors  by  name 
the  writer  adds,  "These  men  are  the  best  witnesses  to 
the  faithful  and  painstaking  service  of  this  most  inde- 
fatigable of  teachers." 

A  most  fitting  memorial  of  Dr.  Hyde  was  pre- 
pared soon  after  his  death  by  his  older  son.  An  inter- 
esting feature  of  the  volume,  and  one  which  testifies 
to  the  diversity  and  extent  of  Dr.  Hyde's  services, 
is  the  collection  of  tributes  coming  from  a  great  va- 
riety of  sources.  Besides  the  tributes  which  came 
from  American  friends,  there  are  given  appre- 
ciations from  a  native  pastor,  the  Chinese  Vice- 
Consul,  the  pastor  of  the  Portuguese  Church,  and  a 
former  Japanese  Consul-General. 

One  of  the  published  reports  of  the  meeting  of  the 
American  Board  held  at  Worcester,  Massachusetts,  in 
1893,  at  which  Dr.  Hyde  was  present,  contains  a  pen 
picture  of  the  man  as  he  then  appeared:  "Dr.  Hyde 
is  one  of  the  venerable  missionaries  whose  years  of  ex- 
perience in  the  field  have  given  a  knowledge  of  the 
Hawaiian  Islands  that  but  few  possess.  He  is  a  man 
of  fine  presence,  of  good  height,  erect,  hair  almost  snow- 
white,  pleasant,  attractive,  dark  face,  with,  however,  the 
'chin  of  determination'  which  bespeaks  for  him,  under- 
neath the  quiet  manner,  the  strong  commanding  char- 
acter which  has  served  him  so  long  in  his  work.  He 
speaks  with  a  directness  that  does  not  need  the  tricks 
of  oratory  to  gain  for  itself  an  audience.  A  glance 

[357] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

around  the  well-filled  hall  while  he  was  speaking  showed 
by  the  attitude  of  the  faces  the  exact  direction  in  which 
they  had  to  look  to  see  the  speaker." 

The  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity  was  conferred 
upon  Mr.  Hyde  by  his  Alma  Mater  in  1872. 

He  married  October  10,  1865,  Mary,  daughter  of 
Dr.  Ebenezer  and  Thirza  Williams  (Bliss)  Knight, 
granddaughter  of  Samuel  and  Eunice  (Parkhurst) 
Knight  and  of  Ichabod  and  Thirza  (McCall)  Bliss,  and 
a  descendant  from  a  Bliss  who  settled  in  Braintree, 
Massachusetts,  in  1636. 

There  were  born  to  them  two  children,  both  of 
whom  are  living:  Henry  Knight  Hyde  (Williams 
1887),  a  banker  in  Ware,  Massachusetts;  and  Charles 
K.  Hyde,  Boulogne,  France. 

Dr.  Hyde  published  a  "History  of  Brimfield" 
(1879),  and  in  collaboration  with  President  S.  C.  Bart- 
lett  of  Dartmouth,  the  "Historical  Sketch  of  the  Ha- 
waiian Mission."  He  gathered  much  of  the  material 
for  the  "History  of  Lee,"  which  his  uncle,  Alexander 
Hyde,  published.  Besides  numerous  letters  concern- 
ing his  work  published  in  the  Missionary  Herald,  he 
published  in  the  Springfield  Republican  a  series  of  let- 
ters giving  the  results  of  his  observations  made  during 
a  trip  through  Europe  in  1893,  and  also  many  articles 
on  Hawaiian  affairs.  He  published  in  the  Hawaiian 
Gazette  a  series  of  letters  giving  an  account  of  a  three 
months'  visit  to  Japan  and  China.  He  also  wrote  for 
Thrum's  Annual  various  articles,  mostly  on  subjects 
connected  with  Hawaiian  literature.  He  was  an  ear- 
nest student  of  the  Hawaiian  language  and  literature 
and  made  important  additions  to  Andrews'  Hawaiian 
Dictionary.  Some  of  the  results  of  his  language  study 
he  published  in  1896>  in  a  Hawaiian  Grammar.  For 
five  years  previous  to  his  death,  he  published  a  Quar- 
terly called  Hoahana,  which  contained  the  International 

[858] 


Biographical  Sketches 

Sunday-school  lessons   with  his  comments.     He   also 
translated  many  hymns  into  Hawaiian. 

JACOB  WILLIAM  MARCUSSON,  son  of  Herman  and 
Hinda  (Wolfsohn)  Marcusson,  was  born  in  Skalat, 
Galicia,  Austria,  July  11,  1826.  When  he  was  three 
years  of  age  he  was  taken  by  his  parents  to  Odessa, 
Russia,  whither  they  emigrated.  The  father  was  a 
merchant,  and  also  given  to  scholarly  pursuits,  being 
especially  proficient  in  Hebrew.  The  son  came  to 
America  in  his  youth,  landing  in  Boston.  By  special 
invitation  of  Professor  William  Thompson  of  East 
Windsor  Theological  Seminary,  young  Marcusson  pur- 
sued some  of  his  preparatory  studies  in  Latin  and 
Greek  at  that  institution.  He  completed  his  course  of 
preparatory  studies  at  Williston  Seminary,  Easthamp- 
ton,  Massachusetts.  He  entered  Amherst  College  in 
1848,  but  three  years  later  he  entered  Williams  as  a 
Senior.  Here  he  taught  a  class  in  German.  He  was 
a  member  of  the  Mills  Theological  Society,  and  of  the 
Philotechnian  Society.  His  catalogue  address  was 
Odessa,  Russia. 

After  graduation,  he  spent  a  year  in  East  Windsor 
Theological  Seminary,  and  the  succeeding  year  at  the 
Union  Theological  Seminary,  after  which  he  returned 
to  East  Windsor.  On  January  23,  1855,  he  was  or- 
dained by  a  Congregational  Association  and  received 
an  appointment  from  the  American  Board,  as  mission- 
ary to  Salonica  (the  ancient  Thessalonica) ,  Turkey. 
Permission  was  granted  him  to  spend  a  year  in  Ger- 
many before  going  to  his  station.  While  in  Germany 
he  visited  Halle  University,  where  he  was  a  guest  of 
Dr.  Tholuck;  and  also  visited  an  uncle,  Dr.  W.  Wolf- 
sohn, in  Dresden.  About  the  same  time  he  received 
notice  that  at  the  meeting  of  the  Evangelical  Alliance 
in  Paris,  Dr.  Anderson,  the  Secretary  of  the  American 

[359] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

Board,  had,  at  the  request  of  the  Established  Church 
of  Scotland,  ceded  the  station  of  Salonica  to  that 
church,  and  that  he,  Mr.  Marcusson,  had  been  ap- 
pointed by  that  church  to  organize  the  Salonica  Mis- 
sion. He  went  to  Salonica  in  1855,  remaining  there 
three  years,  and  subsequently  spending  four  years  in 
Constantinople,  being  in  both  places  a  missionary  of  the 
Church  of  Scotland. 

The  importance  of  Salonica  as  a  missionary  station 
had  been  noticed  by  Messrs.  Schauffler  and  D wight, 
the  former  of  whom  had  visited  it  twice,  the  second 
time  being  in  1847.  It  was  estimated  that  the  num- 
ber of  Jews  residing  there  was  35,000,  or  about 
half  of  the  whole  population,  and  the  number  of 
their  synagogues  was  fifty-six.  The  Rev.  Messrs. 
Maynard  and  Dodd,  under  the  appointment  of  the 
American  Board,  went  there  in  1849,  and  on  the  death 
of  Mr.  Maynard,  Rev.  Justin  W.  Parsons  (Williams 
1845),  had  taken  his  place.  Rev.  Henry  B.  Morgan 
and  his  wife  joined  the  mission  in  1852.  The  location 
proved  to  be  so  malarial,  Mrs.  Morgan  dying  there  of 
intermittent  fever,  that  it  was  deemed  best  for  the  mis- 
sionaries to  remove  to  Constantinople,  and  to  leave  the 
station  in  care  of  native  helpers.  It  was  early  in  1856 
that  the  station  was  relinquished  as  above  explained, 
though  not  in  consequence  of  failing  success. 

At  the  close  of  this  period  of  service  in  Turkey,  in 
1862,  Mr.  Marcusson  returned  to  this  country  and 
joined  the  Nassau  Presbytery.  He  was  stated  supply 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Lockport,  New  York, 
in  the  years  1863-65,  and  then  in  home  missionary  work 
in  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  and  for  one  year  in  Gosport,  New 
York.  He  then  became  a  pastor  of  a  church  in  Lyn- 
donville,  New  York,  .where  he  remained  from  1868  to 
1878,  and  was  the  succeeding  year  pastor  at  Barre 
Centre,  New  York.  During  the  years  1879-81,  he 

[360] 


Biographical  Sketches 

was  stated  supply  at  Holley,  New  York.  He  then  re- 
moved to  Chicago,  Illinois,  where  he  did  work  as  an 
evangelist  during  the  years  1882-84,  and  then  became 
stated  supply  of  churches  in  Wisconsin,  remaining  a 
year  at  each  of  these  places:  Waunakee,  Wausau,  and 
Amberg.  During  the  years  1886-90  he  resided  with- 
out charge  in  Chicago.  The  year  1892-93  was  spent  in 
Europe.  He  was  then  for  two  or  three  years  superin- 
tendent of  the  Chicago  Hebrew  Mission,  which  he  or- 
ganized, and  was  for  two  years  pastor  of  the  mission, 
being  a  member  of  the  Chicago  Presbytery.  After 
1899  he  lived  in  honorable  retirement  at  Lagrange,  Illi- 
nois, where  he  died  April  1,  1913. 

Mr.  Marcusson  had  the  satisfaction  of  a  long  life, 
and  as  he  looked  back  upon  a  period  of  more  than  four 
score  years  he  had  the  supreme  joy  of  feeling  that  his 
life  had  been  devoted  to  the  highest  and  noblest  service. 
During  the  last  years  of  his  life  he  had  in  preparation 
an  autobiography  which  may  be  published. 

Mr.  Marcusson  was  married  at  Frankfort-on-the- 
Main,  August  3,  1858,  to  Miss  Julie  Behringer  of 
Stuttgart,  Wiirtemberg,  Germany,  who  is  of  aristo- 
cratic descent.  Of  this  marriage  there  were  born  two 
sons  and  one  daughter,  who  are  still  living :  Dr.  William 
Beringer  Marcusson,  a  graduate  of  Williams  in  the 
class  of  1881,  a  physician  in  Chicago,  Illinois;  Mrs. 
Julie  M.  Way,  widow  of  Dr.  George  W.  Way,  and  now 
in  the  employ  of  the  Children's  Aid  Society;  and  Mr. 
H.  W.  Marcusson  of  Lagrange,  Illinois. 

REV.  STEPHEN  CLAPP  PIXLEY,  the  venerable  mis- 
sionary and  alumnus  of  the  class  of  1852,  who  died  Feb- 
ruary 21,  1914,  at  Durban,  Natal,  South  Africa,  was 
born  in  Plainfield,  Massachusetts,  June  23,  1829.  He 
was  the  son  of  Noah  and  Hannah  (Shaw)  Pixley,  and 
grandson  of  Noah  Pixley.  The  family  traces  its  an- 

[361] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

cestry  back  to  William  Pixley,  who  married  Sarah 
Lawrence  in  Hadley,  Massachusetts,  in  1663,  and 
moved  to  Northampton,  Massachusetts,  in  1668.  The 
father  of  Stephen  Clapp  Pixley  was  a  carpenter  and 
farmer  by  occupation. 

Plainfield,  the  birthplace  of  the  son,  is  one  of  those 
so-called  "mountain  towns"  of  old  Hampshire  County, 
which  have  furnished  to  the  professions,  particularly 
to  the  ministry,  so  many  young  men.  If,  in  his  prepa- 
ration for  college,  young  Pixley  was  denied  the  inspi- 
ration that  comes  from  large  classes  in  an  academy,  he 
did  enjoy  the  advantages  of  receiving  private  instruc- 
tion from  a  teacher  who  was  famous  and  possessed  of  a 
rare  personality.  This  teacher  was  Rev.  Moses  Hal- 
lock,  who  after  graduating  at  Yale  in  1788  and  study- 
ing theology,  settled  in  1792  as  the  first  pastor  of  the 
Congregational  Church  in  Plainfield,  where  he  re- 
mained until  the  time  of  his  death  in  1837,  a  period  of 
forty-five  years.  For  thirty  years  of  this  period  Mr. 
Hallock  received  pupils  in  his  family  and  more  than 
300  boys  and  girls  were  thus  fitted  for  college  and  active 
life.  Among  these  132  went  to  college,  fifty  becom- 
ing ministers,  and  six  becoming  missionaries.  Many 
of  these  pupils  were  objects  of  gratuitous  assistance 
and  many  more  received  tuition  and  board  at  a  cost  of 
little  more  than  one  dollar  per  week.  The  inscription 
on  Mr.  Hallock' s  tombstone  characterized  him  as  "a 
man  of  patriarchal  simplicity,  integrity,  sincerity,  kind- 
ness; without  an  enemy." 

Young  Pixley  entered  college  in  the  fall  of  1848. 
Among  his  classmates  were  Charles  Edward  Harwood, 
Charles  McEwen  Hyde,  Arthur  Latham  Perry,  and 
Lewellyn  Pratt.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Philologian 
Society  and  of  the  Mills  Society  of  Inquiry.  Availing 
himself  of  various  means  of  self-help  furnished  by  the 
college,  he  was  at  the  same  time  an  assiduous  and  suc- 

[362] 


Biographical  Sketches 

cessful  student.  He  took  a  high  stand  as  a  scholar  and 
graduated  with  Phi  Beta  Kappa  rank.  Whether  or 
not  he  had  already  decided  upon  his  life  work  his 
thoughts  evidently  turned  to  service  in  the  mission  field, 
for  the  subject  of  his  junior  oration  was  "The  Mission- 
ary Life,"  and  he  was  assigned  the  honorary  appoint- 
ment of  the  Missionary  Oration  for  Commencement, 
his  subject  being  "Indirect  Results  of  Missions." 

After  graduation  he  taught  for  a  time  at  Poquo- 
nock,  Connecticut,  and  then  entered  East  Windsor 
Theological  Seminary,  where  he  was  graduated  in  1855. 
On  September  25  of  the  same  year  he  was  ordained  as 
a  missionary.  In  his  final  decision  as  to  his  life  plan, 
he  had  been  influenced  in  part  by  an  older  brother  who 
planned  to  become  a  missionary,  but  especially  by  his 
sister,  who  had  married  Rev.  David  Rood  (Williams 
1844),  and  who  had  gone  out  some  years  before  to 
Natal.  It  is  related  that  after  her  departure  to  the 
mission  field,  Mr.  Pixley  found  written  on  the  fly-leaf 
of  his  Bible  in  her  handwriting,  "When  you  think  of 
the  blessings  of  the  gospel,  then  remember  the  perish- 
ing heathen." 

On  October  25,  1855,  he  with  his  wife  sailed  from 
Boston  in  the  sailing  vessel  Springbok  for  Cape  Town, 
in  the  expectation  of  joining  the  Zulu  Mission.  It  took 
sixty  days  to  reach  Cape  Town,  and  nearly  three  weeks 
more  to  reach  Durban,  where  they  arrived  January  20, 
1856.  In  Natal  he  found  several  American  mission- 
aries, among  them  his  brother-in-law,  Rev.  David  Rood, 
and  Rev.  Hyman  A.  Wilder  (Williams  1845).  Mr. 
Pixley  went  first  to  Amanzimtoti,  his  sister's  home,  but 
soon  became  located  at  Amahlongwa,  which  is  about 
forty-three  miles  southwest  of  Port  Natal,  at  the  sta- 
tion formerly  occupied  by  Mr.  Silas  McKinney.  As 
the  station  had  been  unoccupied  for  some  years,  the  in- 
fluence of  Mr.  McKinney's  labors  had  been  nearly  oblit- 

[363] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

erated,  yet  after  a  few  months  Mr.  Pixley  could  report 
an  average  Sabbath  attendance  of  nearly  100.  In  tak- 
ing a  retrospective  view  after  eight  years  of  service 
there,  he  wrote,  in  speaking  of  certain  changes  that  had 
been  wrought:  "The  mission  house  has  been  thor- 
oughly repaired,  and,  within  and  without,  now  presents 
a  new  and  inviting  aspect.  A  good  brick  chapel  has 
been  erected,  capable  of  accommodating  150  hearers, 
containing,  besides  the  main  rooms,  one  for  a  school  and 
one  for  a  study.  At  different  intervals,  there  have  been 
erected,  one  by  one,  the  native  houses,  now  numbering 
eight,  inhabited  by  as  many  families,  the  heads  of  which, 
one  or  both,  give  evidence  of  being  Christians,  and  all 
are  decently  clothed.  .  .  . 

"A  little  church  has  been  organized,  numbering 
eight.  Three  of  the  members  were  admitted  last  year. 
At  the  sound  of  the  bell  there  now  gathers  every  Sab- 
bath day  a  congregation  that  has  averaged,  during  the 
past  year,  about  fifty,  more  than  half  of  them  decently 
clad,  and  all,  generally,  behaving  with  propriety  in  the 
house  of  God.  Of  this  number,  more  than  half  usu- 
ally attend  the  Sabbath- school,  and  many  of  them  can 
now  read  intelligently.  A  week-day  and  a  Sabbath 
morning  prayer-meeting  have  been  sustained  during 
the  year,  with  an  attendance  of  fifteen  or  twenty,  while 
a  day  school,  commenced  last  year,  with  children  in 
part  from  the  station  and  in  part  from  the  heathen 
kraals,  has  been  continued  with  increasing  interest  to 
the  present  time." 

After  twelve  years  spent  in  Amahlongwa,  he  went 
in  1871  to  Amanzimtoti,  where  he  was  stationed  three 
years,  engaged  in  teaching  in  the  theological  school  and 
superintending  station  work.  But  the  greater  part  of 
his  long  period  of  service  was  spent  in  Inanda  (eighteen 
miles  north  of  Durban),  where  he  had  charge  of  the 
station  and  out-stations  and  superintended  much  build- 

[364] 


Biographical  Sketches 

ing.  For  twenty-five  years  he  was  also  the  treasurer 
of  the  mission. 

Of  all  the  veterans  in  the  service  of  the  American 
Board,  Mr.  Pixley,  at  the  time  of  his  death,  was  the 
oldest  active  missionary,  his  period  of  service  lacking 
but  little  of  three  score  years.  In  1906  the  American 
Zulu  Mission  celebrated  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the 
arrival  of  Mr.  Pixley  in  Natal.  One  evening  at  the  an- 
nual meeting  was  devoted  to  "Father  Pixley,"  as  the  cen- 
tral figure,  when  he  gave  an  interesting  account  of  his 
life.  One,  who  had  been  a  colleague  for  twenty-five 
years,  spoke  of  him  as  a  father,  friend,  and  brother,  em- 
phasizing particularly  his  characteristic  humility.  One 
of  his  daughters  spoke  of  the  dangers  through  which  he 
had  passed  and  his  escape  from  them,  while  others  re- 
lated anecdotes  to  show  the  love  of  the  natives  for  him. 
One  who  gave  an  account  of  this  celebration,  in  refer- 
ring to  the  change  witnessed  by  Mr.  Pixley  wrote :  "At 
the  time  of  Mr.  Pixley's  arrival  the  mission  'reserves' 
had  not  been  granted,  there  were  no  schools,  no  build- 
ings at  Inanda,  no  church  organization.  He  sees  now 
twenty-four  churches,  with  200  places  of  regular  wor- 
ship and  over  4000  communicants, — a  self-supporting 
constituency, — and  seventy-six  schools,  with  100  teach- 
ers and  over  3000  pupils." 

He  had  the  satisfaction  of  a  long  life,  being  able 
to  preach  up  to  near  the  very  end,  while  as  a  friend  and 
counsellor  he  enjoyed  the  confidence  and  affection  both 
of  his  colleagues  and  the  natives. 

It  was  a  pleasing  episode  in  Mr.  Pixley's  life  when, 
in  1910,  two  Williams  graduates  of  that  year — Messrs. 
R.  D.  Ely  and  Griffith — while  voyaging  up  the  east 
coast  of  Africa  stopped  at  Inanda  to  visit  this  fellow 
alumnus  of  near  three  score  years'  standing.  Of  this 
visit  Mr.  Ely  writes:  "It  was  in  August,  1910,  that 
Ted  Griffith  and  I  saw  Mr.  Pixley.  He  was  at  that 

[365] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

time,  I  believe,  eighty-one  years  old.  His  hair  was 
snowy  white;  he  was  quite  bent  and  moved  with  some 
little  difficulty.  But  his  eyes  were  clear,  and  his  mind 
very  alert.  He  told  us  of  Williams  back  in  the  'fifties/ 
and  retained  to  a  wonderful  degree  the  memories  of  his 
college  days.  I  made  a  few  notes  in  a  diary  at  the  time 
from  which  I  quote — 'We  had  dinner  at  Stephen  Fix- 
ley's,  Williams  '52.  Soon  after  graduating  Pixley 
went  to  Africa,  where  he  has  been  working  against  tre- 
mendous odds  for  the  upbuilding  of  the  natives.  He 
was  intensely  interested  in  the  Williams  of  to-day  and 
eagerly  drank  in  all  we  could  tell  him.  Then  he  told  us 
of  his  college  days.  The  place  has  changed  in  material 
things,  but  the  boys  were  much  the  same  then  as  now. 
After  dinner  Ted  sat  down  at  the  little  organ,  and 
played  some  of  the  college  songs,  the  two  of  us  singing 
for  all  we  were  worth.  The  old  man's  eyes  filled  and  his 
head,  white  with  the  years,  sank  low  on  his  breast,  and 
we  knew  that  his  heart  was  back  in  our  little  valley.' ' 
In  his  long  period  of  service  Mr.  Pixley  accom- 
plished much  as  a  teacher  and  preacher  and  witnessed 
the  ingathering  of  many  souls  into  the  church,  but  per- 
haps his  most  important  work  is  what  he  did  on  the 
Zulu  Bible.  At  the  time  of  his  going  to  Africa,  the 
historical  books  of  the  Old  Testament,  Psalms,  Mat- 
thew, and  Romans  had  already  been  translated  into 
Zulu.  The  work  of  translating  the  remainder  being 
apportioned  among  the  members  of  the  mission,  Mr. 
Pixley  translated  Philippians,  part  of  Job,  and  portions 
of  other  books;  and,  after  the  death  of  Mr.  Abraham, 
was  appointed  to  revise  all.  When  the  translation  was 
completed  Mr.  Pixley  took  the  work  to  America  for 
printing,  and  in  1883  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  the 
whole  Bible  given  for  the  first  time  to  the  Zulus  in  their 
own  language.  With  this  important  event  his  name  will 
always  be  associated.  Besides  the  portions  of  the  Bible 

[366] 


Biographical  Sketches 

translated  by  him  and  the  letters  published  in  the  Mis- 
sionary Herald,  he  also  prepared  and  published  school 
text-books  for  use  on  the  field. 

Mr.  Pixley  married,  October  18,  1855,  Louisa, 
daughter  of  Deacon  Seth  and  Martha  (Alden)  Healy, 
of  Chesterfield,  Massachusetts. 

Of  seven  children  born  to  them,  four  are  living: 
Mary  Charlotte,  who  is  on  the  mission  field  where  her 
father  labored;  Albert  Alden,  a  machinist  in  Spring- 
field, Massachusetts;  Grace  Louisa,  a  nurse;  Sophia 
Algina,  a  teacher  in  Lakewood,  New  Jersey. 

Another  daughter,  Miss  Martha  H.  Pixley,  a  grad- 
uate of  Mount  Holyoke  College,  who  had  been  for  over 
twenty  years  a  missionary  under  the  American  Board 
in  Natal,  died  in  California,  June  1,  1912. 

Mrs.  Louisa  Pixley  died  at  Lindley,  Natal,  Sep- 
tember 30,  1900,  having  nearly  completed  forty-five 
years  of  missionary  service  of  a  most  faithful  charac- 
ter, and  having  visited  America  only  twice  in  the  whole 
forty-five  years,  first  in  1881,  and  again  in  1898. 

The  following  letter  from  Rev.  Dr.  Lewellyn 
Pratt  of  Norwich,  Connecticut,  who,  at  the  time  of 
writing  (June,  1911),  was  one  of  the  six  living  class- 
mates of  Mr.  Pixley,  gives  some  interesting  reminis- 
cences of  the  college  life. 

"In  the  class  of  '52  and  throughout  the  college  Pix- 
ley won  universal  respect.  He  had  come  to  work  his 
way  through,  and  he  bent  himself  to  the  task  with  the 
same  diligence  and  persistence  that  have  characterized 
his  subsequent  career  as  pioneer,  educator,  translator, 
and  foundation  builder  in  South  Africa.  Whatever 
work — care  of  recitation  rooms,  monitorship,  ringing  of 
chapel  bell — the  college  offered,  he  accepted  cheerfully 
and  discharged  efficiently,  as  some  tardy  and  delinquent 
men  found  to  their  cost.  He  earned  for  himself,  in 
keeping  time  for  the  college,  the  honorary  title  of  *S. 

[367] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

T.  D.'  (Sacri  Tintinnabuli  Dinglor),  a  title  that  our 
General  Catalogue  has  failed  to  recognize. 

"He  was  too  studious,  too  busy,  too  serious  to  have 
much  leisure  for  sports  or  social  diversion.     His  prep- 
aration for  college,  like  that  of  most  of  us  at  that  time, 
was  meager,  and  the  diversion  he  could  allow  himself 
from  study  was  found  in  the  work  he  did  for  his  sup- 
port, and  little  time  in  his  four  years  ran  to  waste. 
Thus  he  was  fitting  himself  for  the  varied  demands  of 
the  laborious  and  strenuous  life  that  he  has  led  in  the 
fifty-five  years  he  has  spent  in  mission  service.    Writ- 
ing to  his  class  forty  years  after  leaving  college  he  said: 
'I  am  Jack-of-all-trades.     Sundays  I  am  to  preach; 
week  days  I  am  the  servant  of  all  who  come  to  me :  now, 
it  is  to  extract  a  tooth ;  the  next  hour  medicine  is  to  be 
dispensed;  then  I   overlook  native   servants  in  farm 
work;  some  days  I  do  a  bit  of  carpenter's  work,  then 
try  my  hand  at  blacksmithing ;  look  after  the  Sunday 
and  day  schools ;  for  over  twenty  years  have  been  treas- 
urer for  the  mission  and  receive,  disburse  and  account 
for  ,£3000  yearly;  conduct  prayer  and  inquiry  meet- 
ings; and  on  Saturdays  meet  the  native  helpers  to  study 
and  prepare  them  for  their  Sunday  work.    Such  is  mis- 
sionary life  here  in  Natal.'     His  life  plan  was  formed 
before  he  entered  college  and  he  made  everything  con- 
tribute to  inuring  himself  to  hard  work.    In  his  Fresh- 
man year  he  connected  himself  with  the  Mills  Theo- 
logical Society;  the  theme  of  his  Junior  oration  was 
'The  Missionary  Life,'  and  the  honorary  appointment 
on  the  Commencement  stage  was  entitled  'Missionary 
Oration.' 

"It  is  no  surprise  to  those  who  knew  him  in  college 
that  his  painstaking  and  thorough  scholarship  should 
have  been  employed  when  the  Bible  was  to  be  trans- 
lated into  Zulu,  and  that  his  devotion  should  hold  him  on 
the  field  to  his  eighty-second  year;  and  we  can  rejoice 

[368] 


Biographical  Sketches 

with  him  in  the  joy  of  harvest  as  he  is  permitted  to  look 
out  on  a  score  and  more  of  self-sustaining  churches  that 
have  sprung  from  the  mission  whose  beginnings  he 
helped  to  start,  and  to  see  large  cities  and  a  nation 
where  he  found  a  wilderness  and  groups  of  savages." 

WILLIAM  SIDNEY  POTTER,  from  Shelby,  New  York, 
was  born  February  6,  1827.  He  entered  college  as  a 
Sophomore  in  1849.  He  apparently  did  not  study 
theology  but  soon  after  graduation  went  with  his  class- 
mate, John  Kellogg  Harris,  as  a  teacher  to  the  Choc- 
taw  nation.  He  had  no  formal  appointment  from  the 
American  Board,  but  he  labored  in  connection  with  this 
mission  for  more  than  a  year  and  the  Missionary  Her- 
ald contains  a  few  references  to  his  work.  He  is 
reported  at  first  as  an  assistant  missionary  at  Stock- 
bridge,  and  then  as  a  preacher  at  Bennington. 
The  report  in  the  Missionary  Herald  for  1854  speaks 
of  a  day  school  which  had  been  taught  at  Bennington, 
the  number  of  pupils  being  forty-nine,  with  an  average 
of  thirty.  The  report  adds:  "Mr.  Potter  has  spared  no 
pains  to  make  it  a  good  school;  and  the  progress  of  the 
children  is  very  manifest." 

He  died  at  Good  Land  of  typhoid  fever,  August  31, 
1854,  at  the  age  of  27.  Mr.  Stark,  one  of  his  associates 
in  the  mission,  wrote  of  him:  "The  thought  of  dying 
produced  no  fear.  Though  he  loved  the  work  of  preach- 
ing Christ  to  the  Choctaws,  he  was  ready  to  depart." 
The  Annual  Report  of  the  American  Board  spoke  of 
his  death  as  occurring  "after  having  shown  himself  a 
sincere  and  earnest  laborer  in  his  Master's  service." 

BELA  NEWTON  SEYMOUR,  son  of  Ardon  A.  and 
Orpah  (Collins)  Seymour,  was  born  in  East  Granville, 
Massachusetts,  March  26,  1829.  The  family  traces  its 
descent  from  Richard  Seymour  as  the  first  immigrant 

[369] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

ancestor  in  America.  Richard  Seymour  came  from 
Chelmsford,  Essex  County,  England,  to  Hartford, 
Connecticut,  in  1639,  and  was  one  of  those  settlers  who 
received  land  "by  courtesie  of  the  town."  He  was 
also  one  of  the  signers  of  the  agreement  for  the  plant- 
ing of  Norwalk,  Connecticut,  June  19,  1650,  and  was 
there  soon  after  with  the  first  planters.  The  Seymour 
family  is  one  of  great  antiquity  and  great  distinction 
in  England,  being  traced  in  two  distinct  lines  back  to 
Henry  III.  According  to  one  genealogical  record, 
Richard  Seymour  was  the  great-grandson  of  Edward 
Seymour,  Duke  of  Somerset,  eldest  brother  of  Queen 
Jane  Seymour,  the  third  wife  of  Henry  VIII. 

The  father  of  Bela  Newton  Seymour  was  a  farmer 
and  was  inured  to  toil  on  a  rocky  farm.  Both  father 
and  mother  were  strong  characters,  faithful  students  of 
the  Scriptures,  and  led  lives  of  pray  erf  ulness. 

The  son  fitted  for  college  under  his  pastor,  Rev.  Dr. 
Timothy  Mather  Cooley  (Yale  1792).  Dr.  Cooley 
was  one  of  that  interesting  type  of  the  New  England 
minister  who  was  found  more  frequently  in  the  earlier 
part  of  the  last  century  than  at  the  present  time.  Al- 
though he  was  an  able  preacher,  possessed  of  superior 
intellectual  ability,  and  an  accurate  and  thorough  classi- 
cal scholar,  he  preferred  a  small  salary  in  a  small  place 
to  a  larger  salary  in  a  more  important  town.  He  was 
settled  in  East  Granville,  on  February  3,  1796,  at  a 
salary  of  $300,  and  continued  in  full  discharge  of  the 
ofHce  of  the  ministry  for  fifty-eight  years,  until  1854, 
when  he  was  released  from  pulpit  duty,  but  not  from 
the  pastoral  relation,  which  he  held  until  his  death  in 
1859.  From  1812  until  his  death  he  was  a  member  of 
the  Board  of  Trustees  of  this  college. 

Soon  after  his  settlement  he  opened  a  classical 
school  in  his  own  house  and  continued  it  for  most  of  his 
life.  He  is  said  to  have  taught  more  than  800  youths, 

[870] 


Biographical  Sketches 

besides  superintending  the  studies  of  several  young 
men  preparing  for  the  ministry.  His  career  as  pastor 
and  teacher  was  thus  very  similar  to  that  of  his 
contemporary,  Rev.  Moses  Hallock  of  Plainfield, 
Massachusetts. 

It  is  presumed  that  young  Seymour  was  well  fitted 
for  college,  which  he  entered  as  a  Freshman  in  1848. 
He  became  a  member  of  the  Philologian  Society,  and 
took  good  rank  as  a  scholar,  graduating  with  the  ap- 
pointment of  an  Oration.  He  was  one  of  the  speakers 
at  Commencement,  his  subject  being  "Thought  and 
Language." 

After  graduation  he  pursued  a  course  in  theology 
at  Union  Seminary  during  the  years  1852-55.  He  was 
ordained  by  a  Congregational  Council  at  Granville, 
Massachusetts,  June  20,  1855.  At  the  close  of  his  sem- 
inary course  he  received  an  appointment  from  the 
American  Board  to  establish  a  mission  in  the  Mar- 
quesas Islands.  This  project,  which  apparently  in- 
cluded the  plan  of  sending  to  the  Marquesas  mission- 
aries from  the  Sandwich  Islands,  was  twofold  in  its  de- 
sign, combining  with  the  regular  work  of  the  mission 
the  plan  of  industrial  schools.  The  project  failed,  ow- 
ing possibly,  in  part,  to  the  arrival  at  the  Marquesas, 
about  this  time,  of  French  missionaries,  but  in  part  to 
the  dishonesty  of  the  man  to  whom  the  industrial  part 
had  been  intrusted.  This  person,  having  in  hand  the 
money  that  had  been  devoted  to  the  mission,  and  having 
intrusted  to  his  name  the  generous  equipment,  proved 
false,  and  taking  possession  of  the  goods  when  they 
reached  the  Pacific  Coast,  disappeared,  leaving  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Seymour  in  San  Francisco,  stripped  of  nearly 
everything. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Seymour  then  entered  heart  and  soul 
into  the  Home  Missionary  work  in  California,  where 
they  labored  for  about  seventeen  years  and  were  gen- 

[371] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

nine  pioneers,  forming  seven  churches  and  erecting 
buildings  for  five.  Mr.  Seymour  was  stated  supply 
from  1856  to  1859  in  Oroville,  where  he  had  gathered 
a  small  Congregational  church;  from  1859  to  1860  in 
Camptonville ;  and  from  1861  to  1865  he  was  stated 
supply  in  Presbyterian  churches  in  Alvarado  and  Cen- 
treville.  After  holding  a  pastorate  from  1865  to  1872  in 
a  large  Congregational  church  in  Haywards,  Califor- 
nia, he  was  for  fourteen  years  stated  supply  for  various 
churches  in  New  England;  being  for  one  year  each  in 
Springfield  and  Walpole,  Massachusetts;  from  1874  to 
1879,  in  New  Ipswich,  New  Hampshire;  from  1879  to 
1883,  in  Vernon,  Connecticut;  from  1883  to  1887,  in 
Huntington,  Connecticut.  He  then  was  pastor  of  a 
church  in  Washington,  D.  C.,  from  1887  to  1893,  and 
remained  in  Washington,  without  charge,  for  ten  years. 
In  most  of  the  places  where  he  resided  in  California, 
he  was  also  superintendent  of  public  schools.  He  was 
also  for  a  time  a  member  of  the  Vigilance  Committee. 
In  1878  he  was  a  member  of  the  Legislature  in  New 
Hampshire. 

He  died  of  heart  failure  at  the  home  of  his  son  at 
Interlaken,  in  Stockbridge,  Massachusetts,  February 
27,  1903. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Seymour  were  thoroughly  infused 
with  the  missionary  spirit,  and  by  strict  economy  they 
were  able  in  quiet  ways  to  maintain  a  large  share  in  all 
Congregational  work,  whether  in  organizing  new 
churches  and  building  meeting-houses  in  the  newer 
parts  of  our  own  land,  or  in  contributing  to  the  work 
in  other  lands.  A  lasting  remembrance  of  their  inter- 
est in  foreign  missions  is  seen  in  connection  with  the 
Foochow  Mission,  where  a  "Seymour  Memorial"  has 
been  gathered  in  the  form  of  a  contribution  to  the 
women's  work  of  that  mission  for  a  building. 

Mr.  Seymour  was  married  June  28,  1855,  at  Tri- 

[372] 


Biographical  Sketches 

angle,  New  York,  to  Miss  Emily  Morse,  daughter  of 
John  Sanford  and  Anna  (Parsons)  Morse.  She  died 
in  Washington,  November,  1901. 

They  were  survived  by  two  sons:  Alfred  Morse 
Seymour,  who  was  graduated  at  Amherst  College  in 
1880,  and  now  resides  at  Fort  Washington,  Montgom- 
ery County,  Pennsylvania;  and  Rev.  Edward  P.  Sey- 
mour (Amherst  1884),  of  Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania. 


CLASS  OF  1853 

ARTHUR  MITCHELL  was  born  in  Hudson,  New 
York,  August  13,  1835.  He  was  the  son  of  Matthew 
and  Susan  (Swain)  Mitchell.  His  grandparents  were 
Laban  and  Elizabeth  (Freeborn)  Mitchell  and  Gilbert 
and  Margaret  (Barnard)  Swain.  The  immigrant  an- 
cestor was  Richard  Mitchell,  who  came  from  the  Isle 
of  Wight  and  settled  in  Rhode  Island  in  1708.  Arthur 
Mitchell  had  a  goodly  inheritance  in  his  ancestry,  the 
marked  characteristic  of  whom  was  goodness.  Mat- 
thew Mitchell,  the  father,  was  of  Quaker  descent, 
known  for  the  poise  and  sagacity  of  his  nature,  and  rep- 
resenting the  gentle  and  benevolent  spirit  so  generally 
characteristic  of  the  Quakers.  It  was  the  testimony  of 
the  son  that  he  did  not  remember  ever  hearing  from  his 
father  an  uncharitable  remark  concerning  any  one. 
Matthew  Mitchell  at  first  learned  the  cooper's  trade, 
but  later  became  a  dealer  in  oil  and  whale  products. 
He  was  a  man  of  prominence  in  the  community  and 
became  one  of  the  directors  of  Washington  Life  In- 
surance Company.  He  had  great  physical  vigor,  which 
he  retained  to  the  advanced  age  of  eighty-four.  His 
wife  was  noted  in  her  youth  for  remarkable  beauty 
and  became  the  efficient  and  faithful  helpmeet  of  her 
husband. 

The  son  is  described  as  having  in  his  youth  a  pecul- 

[373  ] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

iarly  frank  and  open  countenance,  suggestive  of  the 
kindness  and  truthfulness  of  his  nature,  sure  to  win  at 
once  the  confidence  and  affection  of  those  about  him. 
This  youthfulness  of  look  and  manner  remained  peren- 
nial. Living  to  be  a  grandfather,  he  had  neither  wrin- 
kles nor  gray  hairs. 

He  pursued  his  preparatory  studies  partly  in  Hud- 
son, and  partly  in  Mr.  Warner's  school  at  Stockbridge, 
Massachusetts.  He  entered  college  as  a  Freshman  at 
the  age  of  fourteen.  In  college  he  joined  the  Sigma 
Phi  Society,  the  Mills  Theological  Society,  the  Lyceum 
of  Natural  History,  and  the  Philologian  Society,  of 
which  last  he  was  one  of  the  presidents.  He  took  good 
position  as  a  scholar,  and  graduated  with  Phi  Beta 
Kappa  rank.  He  was  one  of  the  speakers  at  Com- 
mencement, having  an  Oration  for  an  appointment,  the 
subject  of  his  address  being  "Labor."  It  was  in  col- 
lege that  he  became  a  Christian,  having  previously  been 
somewhat  inclined  to  scepticism.  With  him  conversion 
meant  the  giving  of  his  whole  heart  and  life  to  his  Mas- 
ter. Although  he  was  the  youngest  member  of  his 
class,  of  small  stature,  and  boyish-looking,  he  at  once 
set  to  work  to  win  souls  for  Christ.  In  the  complete- 
ness of  his  consecration  he  felt  that  he  must  give  up  his 
Greek-letter  society,  lest  its  ties  should  interfere  with 
his  influence  with  others.  Nowhere  do  enthusiasm  and 
personality  count  for  more  than  in  a  college  commu- 
nity. His  enthusiasm  was  contagious,  and  his  person- 
ality made  him  a  power  for  good  in  the  whole  college. 
The  opportunities  he  found  for  Christian  work  and  the 
environment  in  which  he  was  placed  formed  a  good 
school  of  practical  Christian  life.  He  was  fortunate  in 
being  at  Williams  when  President  Mark  Hopkins  and 
his  brother  Albert  were  at  the  height  of  their  influence. 
If  there  was  less  of  the  religious  life  which  has  come  in 
with  the  growth  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Associ- 

[874] 


Biographical  Sketches 

ations,  there  was  then  more  of  religious  instruction. 
The  age  of  speculation  and  doubt  had  already  set  in, 
and  it  was  worth  much  to  a  young  man  to  be  under  the 
influence  of  instructors  who  could  teach  with  authority, 
and  who,  having  been  over  disputed  ground,  had  ob- 
tained a  Christian  faith  which  could  but  be  a  tonic  to 
the  faith  of  the  pupils.  Dr.  Mitchell  never  ceased  to 
feel  the  inspiration  that  came  from  the  intellectual 
supremacy  of  Mark  Hopkins,  and  to  regard  him  as  the 
teacher  who  had  given  strength  to  his  convictions  of  re- 
ligious truth  and  had  made  the  Kingdom  of  God  seem 
real. 

Although  he  had  decided  to  study  for  the  ministry, 
on  graduation  he  accepted  a  tutorship  in  Lafayette  Col- 
lege, and  found  in  the  work  of  teaching  an  intellectual 
discipline  of  permanent  value.  To  this  were  added  the 
advantages  of  foreign  travel,  when,  in  company  with  his 
college  mate,  Charles  A.  Stoddard,  he  made  an  exten- 
sive tour  through  Europe  and  the  East,  visiting  the 
scenes  of  Bible  history  and  the  mission  stations  of  Syria 
and  Egypt. 

Entering  Union  Theological  Seminary  in  1856,  he 
combined  study  and  Christian  work  as  he  had  done  in 
college.  His  helpful  influence  was  felt  not  only  in 
the  Sunday-school  and  revival  work  in  which  he  en- 
gaged, but  upon  his  fellow  students,  one  of  whom  said 
of  him:  "His  companionship  was  then,  as  ever  after, 
stimulating  and  uplifting.  Through  all  these  years  my 
affection  and  admiration  for  him  have  continued. 
Without  reservation,  I  say  I  have  never  known  a  more 
earnest  and  consecrated  spirit  than  his."  In  the  semi- 
nary, as  in  college,  he  received  instruction  that  was  at- 
tended with  spiritual  stimulus,  coming  under  teachers 
the  power  of  whose  personality  continued  with  him 
through  life. 

Graduating  in  1859,  at  the  age  of  twenty-four,  he 

[375] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

accepted  a  call  to  a  Presbyterian  church  in  Richmond, 
Virginia,  being  ordained  by  Presbytery  in  New 
York,  May  9.  Notwithstanding  his  youth,  he  soon 
won  the  entire  confidence  of  the  congregation  and  com- 
munity. By  rare  combination  of  superior  intellectual 
gifts  with  the  highest  moral  qualities,  he  became  a 
preacher  of  unusual  power.  He  believed  in  selecting 
for  his  themes  the  great  common  truths  of  the  gospel, 
feeling  that  sermons  which  deal  directly  with  faith,  re- 
pentance, and  a  godly  life  are  what  people  need  and 
really  desire.  One  who  knew  him  well  has  thus  ana- 
lyzed his  power  as  a  preacher:  "The  conscientious 
study  and  preparation,  the  enthusiasm  with  which  the 
truth  filled  his  mind,  the  manifest  sincerity  and  depth 
of  his  own  convictions,  the  sympathetic  voice  and  man- 
ner, the  illuminated  face,  the  loving,  winning,  pleading 
expression  of  the  whole  man, — all  this  combined  to 
make  him  a  very  effective  preacher."  To  his  high 
praise  it  is  to  be  said  that  nowhere  was  his  preaching  so 
effective  as  among  his  own  people,  where  his  godly  life 
gave  emphasis  to  his  words.  But  the  success  with 
which  he  was  meeting  was  soon  interrupted  by  the 
Civil  War.  When  Virginia  passed  the  ordinance  of 
secession,  feeling  his  place  was  in  the  North,  he  first 
took  his  family  through  the  lines,  reaching  the  Union 
army  just  as  it  was  entering  Baltimore.  Sending  his 
family  homeward  he  returned  to  his  charge,  but  public 
sentiment  soon  became  such  as  seriously  to  interfere 
with  his  usefulness.  With  great  peril  he  succeeded  in 
getting  through  the  lines  to  the  North,  leaving  his  val- 
uable library  and  household  goods  to  be  confiscated  by 
the  Confederate  Government.  The  generosity  of  his 
nature  was  shown  when,  at  the  close  of  the  war,  he  re- 
visited his  former  parishioners  and  contributed  to  the 
needs  of  some  who  had  been  impoverished  by  the  war. 
He  was  next  called  to  be  pastor  of  the  Second  Pres- 

[376] 


Biographical  Sketches 

byterian  Church  in  Morristown,  New  Jersey,  where  he 
remained  from  1861  to  1868.  There,  as  in  Richmond, 
his  aim  in  preaching  was  to  win  the  unconverted  and 
to  confirm  believers.  But  in  both  these  churches  he 
exhibited  what  became  a  marked  characteristic  of  all 
his  subsequent  preaching,  a  glowing  enthusiasm  for  for- 
eign missions.  It  is  because  of  what  he  did  for  this 
cause  in  the  pulpit,  and  especially  as  Secretary  of  the 
Presbyterian  Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  that  a  sketch 
of  his  life  is  given  in  this  volume.  Though  he  felt  that 
the  redemption  of  the  world  was  a  theme  sublime 
enough  to  be  made  a  hobby,  he  gave  hearty  support  to 
every  other  form  of  benevolence.  As  might  be  ex- 
pected from  the  noble  qualities  of  his  soul,  he  was 
an  ideal  pastor,  loving  his  people  and  loved  by 
them  in  turn;  possessing  that  wide  sympathy,  that 
rejoices  with  them  that  rejoice  and  weeps  with  them 
that  weep. 

In  1868  he  was  called  to  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church  in  Chicago.  Though  this  church  was  a  large 
and  influential  one,  and  he  was  but  thirty-three  years 
of  age,  he  soon  took  a  commanding  position  not  only 
among  his  own  people  but  throughout  the  city.  He 
was  the  same  plain  and  practical  preacher  in  Chicago 
that  he  had  been  in  Richmond  and  Morristown,  while 
his  efforts  in  the  cause  of  foreign  missions  were  in- 
creased. His  twelve  years'  pastorate  in  Chicago  was 
marked  by  his  persistent  and  successful  efforts  to  see  the 
churches  of  that  city  possessed  with  a  zeal  for  missions. 
Sometimes  the  subject  was  pressed  with  more  persist- 
ency than  was  acceptable  to  the  people,  but  it  cannot  be 
doubted  that  to-day  there  is  in  the  churches  of  Chicago 
a  more  general  interest  in  the  cause  of  missions  because 
Dr.  Mitchell  once  preached  there.  It  was  natural  that 
he  should  have  been  solicited  at  that  time  to  accept  a 
secretaryship  in  the  Foreign  Board,  which  solicitation 

[377] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

he  declined  through  his  love  for  the  pastorate  and  the 
feeling  that  he  was  in  it  doing  more  for  the  su- 
preme cause  than  he  could  as  Secretary  of  tl-3  Foreign 
Board.  It  is  related  that  when,  being  invited  about 
this  time  to  accept  a  professorship  in  this  college,  he 
visited  Williamstown  and  preached  on  a  Sabbath,  Dr. 
Hopkins  took  him  by  the  hand  and  said:  "One  who 
can  preach  like  that  should  not  leave  the  pastorate. 
Stay  where  you  are." 

But  his  interest  in  the  foreign  field  did  not  lead  him 
to  neglect  work  nearer  home.  He  was  fully  awake  to 
the  moral  desolations  of  Chicago  and  loved  to  preach 
to  the  masses  who  had  no  church  home.  In  his  patri- 
otism and  his  broad  view  of  the  Kingdom  of  God  there 
was  no  antagonism  between  work  in  the  foreign  field 
and  home  missionary  work  in  the  newer  portions  of  our 
own  land. 

While  he  was  ever  the  edifying  preacher  to  those 
who  were  of  the  household  of  faith,  his  honest  fidelity 
and  the  charming  personality  which  had  made  him  an 
influential  member  of  the  college,  now  made  him  a 
preacher  of  peculiar  power  with  worldly  men.  Those 
who  knew  him  in  business  matters  connected  with 
church  work  found  in  him  an  efficient  and  broad- 
minded  man  of  affairs  whose  courtesy  was  unfailing. 

There  were  combined  in  his  nature  the  somewhat 
diverse  qualities  that  belonged  to  the  beloved  disciple. 
Gentleness  and  modesty  were  conspicuous  elements  in 
his  character,  but  in  certain  emergencies  he  could  be- 
come a  veritable  son  of  thunder.  It  is  related  that 
when  an  election  in  Chicago  had  been  carried  by  most 
unblushing  frauds,  and  good  men,  though  shamed,  stood 
helpless  and  hopeless,  Dr.  Mitchell  went  at  midnight 
to  watch  the  precinct  that  there  might  be  no  manipula- 
tion of  the  votes  which  had  been  cast,  and  found  evi- 
dence which  led  to  a  new  election.  By  his  courage  he 

[378] 


Biographical  Sketches 

had  single-handed  overthrown  an  election  that  had  been 
carried  by  fraud.  It  was  on  this  or  some  similar  occa- 
sion when,  a  daily  paper  having  suggested  "frightening 
the  minister"  out  of  his  efforts  at  reform,  Dr.  R.  W. 
Patterson  remarked  to  a  friend,  "They'll  have  a  good 
time  of  it  frightening  Dr.  Mitchell  off." 

In  1880,  Dr.  Mitchell  was  called  from  Chicago  to 
Cleveland,  Ohio,  where  he  became  pastor  of  the  First 
Presbyterian  Church.  Here  his  future  was  destined  to 
copy  fair  his  past.  He  soon  became  known  as  the  same 
earnest  preacher,  the  beloved  pastor,  and  the  pro- 
nounced advocate  of  foreign  missions.  It  has  already 
been  intimated  that  while  a  pastor  in  Chicago  he  had 
been  offered  the  position  as  Secretary  of  the  Foreign 
Board.  When  in  1885  he  was  again  offered  the  posi- 
tion, he  accepted,  and  for  the  remaining  years  of  his 
life  gave  himself  entirely  to  the  cause  which  he  so  dearly 
loved,  and  to  which  he  was  wholly  consecrated.  In  the 
work  his  zeal  knew  no  bounds.  He  probably  would 
have  lived  longer  in  a  pastorate,  but  he  spared  not  him- 
self, once  saying  to  a  friend,  "A  man  is  good  for  noth- 
ing but  to  be  used  up."  Repeatedly  during  the  term 
of  his  secretaryship  he  had  other  fields  of  usefulness 
opened  to  him,  and  he  was  led  to  weigh  the  chances  of 
his  being  able  to  bear  the  numerous  burdens  of  so  re- 
sponsible a  position.  In  vain  his  friends  and  associates 
urged  him  to  seek  some  diversion  and  relaxation;  once 
indeed  he  wrote  an  earnest  letter  to  a  friend  saying: 
"Get  me  a  little  pastorate.  I  shall  die  here  before  my 
time."  But  almost  as  soon  as  the  friend  began  to  seek 
for  a  pastorate  for  him,  there  came  a  telegram  saying: 
"Stay  that  move,  I  must  remain  here  if  I  die."  It 
could  be  literally  said  of  him,  the  zeal  of  his  Father's 
house  ate  him  up.  About  three  years  before  his  death 
he  visited  the  mission  fields  of  the  East.  This  was  a 
diversion,  but  not  a  rest,  for  him.  The  opportunities 

[379] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

for  speaking  which  came  to  him  he  could  not  resist. 
At  Nanking  he  became  blind  while  preaching  from  a 
manuscript,  but  kept  on  and  finished  his  discourse  ex- 
temporaneously. Subsequently,  at  Bangkok,  he  again 
became  blind  while  discussing  missionary  matters  with 
Dr.  McFarland.  He  kept  on  talking  to  his  friend  until 
he  fell  to  the  floor,  speechless,  and  paralyzed  on  one  side 
of  his  face.  Such  was  the  courage  and  indefatigable 
spirit  of  the  man.  He  returned  to  his  post  from  his 
journey  with  health  greatly  impaired,  and  though  on 
his  return,  he  was  given  a  three  months'  leave  of  ab- 
sence for  rest,  he  never  fully  recovered  his  strength. 
In  the  spring  of  1892  he  took  another  three  months  for 
rest,  and  in  the  following  November  he  went  to  Flor- 
ida, after  which  his  health  failed  rapidly.  The  follow- 
ing extract  is  taken  from  a  highly  appreciative  article 
by  Rev.  Dr.  F.  F.  Ellinwood,  published  in  the  Mission- 
ary Review  of  the  World  for  1893,  to  which  article  the 
writer  of  this  sketch  is  indebted  for  many  facts  and 
thoughts:  "Up  to  the  very  time  of  his  collapse,  in 
November,  he  retained  all  his  matchless  eloquence  in 
pleading  for  missions.  Perhaps  the  very  grandest  ef- 
fort that  he  ever  put  forth  was  made  in  a  speech  of  over 
an  hour  before  the  Synod  of  New  York,  convened  at 
Albany.  Dr.  John  G.  Paton,  the  hero  of  the  New 
Hebrides,  who  happened  to  be  present,  spoke  of  it  as 
the  most  remarkable  missionary  address  that  he  had 
ever  heard.  It  shook  the  Synod  like  a  tempest;  but 
alas!  it  shook  also  the  frail  body  of  the  speaker.  He 
wrote  me  afterward  from  Florida  that  he  had  "never 
been  the  same  man  after  that  night."  It  was  a  worthy 
farewell  plea  before  the  Church  and  the  Christian  world 
to  remember  the  nations  that  have  waited  so  many  cen- 
turies for  the  truth. 

He  died  in  Saratoga,  New  York,  April  24,  1893. 

He   received  the  honorary   degree   of   Doctor   of 

[380] 


Biographical  Sketches 

Divinity  from  his  Alma  Mater  in  1875.     He  was  trus- 
tee of  the  college  from  1882  to  1887. 

He  was  married  on  October  5,  1859,  in  New  York 
City,  to  Miss  Harriet  Edith  Post,  daughter  of  Alfred 
Charles  Post,  M.D.,  and  Harriet  (Beers)  Post,  grand- 
daughter of  Joel  and  Elizabeth  Post  and  of  Cyrenius 
Eliot  and  Margaret  (Van  Antwept)  Beers.  Of  eight 
children  born  to  them,  six  are  living:  Mrs.  Susan  Mitch- 
ell Ogden,  wife  of  Hollo  Ogden,  L.H.D.  (Williams 
1877),  Summit,  New  Jersey;  Miss  Alice  Mitchell, 
M.D.,  Woodstock,  Landour,  India;  Miss  Harriet  Post 
Mitchell,  teacher  of  domestic  science;  Arthur  Mitchell, 
Ph.D.,  Professor  of  Philosophy,  Lawrence,  Kansas; 
Miss  Julia  Post  Mitchell,  A.M.,  teacher  of  English 
literature. 

CLASS  OF  1854 

WALTER  HALSEY  CLARK,  the  fourth  and  youngest 
son  of  Nathaniel  and  Hannah  (Marsh)  Clark,  and 
grandson  of  Reuben  and  Mary  (Peppers)  Clark,  and 
of  James  and  Mary  (Halsey)  Marsh,  was  born  in  Mil- 
ton-on-the-Hudson,  New  York,  July  2,  1832.  Among 
his  ancestors  were  Samuel  Clark,  who  came  from  Dev- 
onshire, England,  via  Boston  to  Wethersfield,  Connect- 
icut, in  1636,  and  Rev.  Francis  Peppers,  who  came 
to  New  Jersey  in  1743,  from  near  Dublin,  Ireland. 
The  grandfather,  Reuben  Clark,  was  paymaster  in  the 
Army  of  the  Revolution,  and  his  brother,  Jeremiah, 
was  a  prominent  legislator  in  New  York.  Abraham 
Clark,  an  uncle  of  the  grandfather,  James  Marsh, 
was  one  of  the  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence. Nathaniel  Clark,  the  father,  was  a 
farmer  by  occupation.  He  is  described  as  one  who 
lived  a  quiet,  exemplary  life,  and  as  having  the  con- 
fidence and  love  of  all.  Mr.  Clark's  ancestors  on 
both  sides  are  spoken  of  as  plain,  "common"  peo- 

[381] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

pie,  but  positively  religious,  and  hence  thrifty  and 
influential  for  good. 

Walter  Halsey  Clark  fitted  for  college  at  the  Corn- 
wall Collegiate  Institute  and  entered  Williams  as  a 
Sophomore  in  1851.  The  class  of  1854  was  an  unusu- 
ally large  one  for  those  days,  and  numbered  among  its 
members  several  who  attained  high  distinction  in  life. 
Among  the  prominent  members  of  the  class  were  Ab- 
bott Eliot  Kittredge,  William  T.  R.  Marvin,  Elbridge 
Mix,  George  Washington  Northup,  and  Charles 
Augustus  Stoddard.  In  college  he  was  a  member  of 
the  Philotechnian  Society,  and  of  the  Mills  Theological 
Society.  He  was  a  successful  student  and  had  the  Com- 
mencement appointment  of  an  Oration. 

After  graduation,  Clark  taught  for  a  time  in  Corn- 
wall, New  York,  and  in  1856  entered  Auburn  Theo- 
logical Seminary,  where  he  remained  two  years  and 
then  took  the  last  year  of  theological  study  at  Union 
Theological  Seminary,  where  he  also  attended  medical 
lectures.  He  was  ordained  June  30,  1859,  by  the 
Presbytery  of  North  River,  New  York,  and  soon 
received  an  appointment  from  the  American  Board  as 
a  missionary  to  the  Gaboon  Mission,  for  which  he  sailed 
on  the  27th  of  September  of  the  same  year,  arriving 
January  28,  1860.  He  was  at  first  stationed  at  Nen- 
genenge  and  Baraka,  two  points  near  the  coast  of 
West  Africa.  While  there  he  wrote  for  the  periodicals 
of  the  American  Board  several  interesting  letters  on 
"African  Customs."  The  climate  in  that  part  of  Africa 
proving  too  unhealthy  for  endurance,  on  January  1, 
1861,  he  joined  the  Corisco  Mission  of  the  Presbyterian 
Board.  In  October,  1862,  he  wrote  to  the  secretary  of 
his  class:  "I  date  again  from  'Corisco  the  Beautiful/ 
as  Du  Chaillu,  the  'gorilla  man,'  calls  it.  My  home  is 
on  a  beautiful  bluff,  overlooking  the  ocean  to  the  north- 
west. For  five  months  I  have  been  alone,  and  the  sta- 

[382  ] 


Biographical  Sketches 

tion,  with  seventeen  boys  of  all  ages,  has  been  in  my 
care ;  so  you  can  believe  that  I  am  very  busy."  In  July, 
1863,  he  visited  the  United  States,  where  he  remained 
something  over  a  year,  to  recruit  his  health,  sailing 
again  for  Corisco,  in  January,  1865.  While  he  was  in 
America,  he  had  charge  of  printing  the  Gospel  of  St. 
John  and  the  Book  of  Acts  in  the  Benga  (Corisco)  lan- 
guage. Three  years  more  of  labor  in  Africa  so  told 
upon  his  health  that  he  returned  finally  to  the  United 
States  in  1868.  For  upwards  of  a  year  he  continued 
labor  for  the  Presbyterian  Board,  in  translating  and 
supervising  their  African  publications.  Being  com- 
pelled, by  reason  of  poor  health,  to  abandon  the  hope  of 
returning  to  Africa,  he  went  to  Nebraska  in  1870,  where 
he  did  faithful  pioneer  work  for  several  years  in  serv- 
ing churches  in  Ponca,  1870-71;  Elk  Valley,  1872-74; 
and  Daily  Branch,  1874-78.  In  this  last  year,  finding 
his  health  failing,  he  started  a  school  at  Silver  Ridge, 
in  the  same  State.  This  position  he  held  till  1887,  when 
he  became  Secretary  and  Treasurer  of  Park  College, 
at  Parkville,  Missouri.  This  continued  to  be  his  resi- 
dence until  his  death.  He  died  of  senile  pneumonia 
March  21,  1912. 

With  a  modesty  which  was  entirely  characteristic 
of  Mr.  Clark,  he  never  gave  out  any  sketch  of  his  life 
and  labors,  but  the  record  given  above,  which  has  been 
gleaned  largely  from  the  Class  History,  shows  that  he 
ever  had  the  spirit  of  the  true  missionary,  whether  his 
station  was  on  the  west  coast  of  Africa,  or  on  the  west- 
ern part  of  this  continent.  He  had  the  satisfaction  of 
a  long  life,  and  was  able  to  continue  in  active  service 
till  near  the  end. 

A  few  months  before  the  death  of  Mr.  Clark,  Rev. 
Dr.  Charles  A.  Stoddard,  a  classmate  who  knew  him 
well,  wrote:  "From  the  start  to  the  present  time  he 
has  been  a  self-denying,  conscientious,  useful  man.  He 

[883] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

spent  ten  years  in  the  hardest  sort  of  missionary  work 
in  Africa,  and  then  came  to  work  as  hard  in  connection 
with  Park  College  in  Missouri.  He  has  given  his  life, 
his  time,  his  labor,  physical  and  mental,  and  his  chil- 
dren to  the  cause  of  Christ  and  Christian  missions,  and 
has  lived  on  such  meager  earnings  that  he  could  not 
raise  enough  money  to  come  to  the  fiftieth  anniversary 
of  his  class.  (We  did  not  know  that  this  was  the  reason 
until  too  late  or  he  would  have  been  there).  A  more 
transparent,  consecrated,  unselfish  Christian  man  and 
minister  of  the  gospel  never  lived." 

At  the  funeral  services,  President  Lowell  M. 
McAfee,  of  Park  College,  after  speaking  of  Mr.  Clark 
as  a  writer  and  preacher,  and  as  a  warm  friend  and 
helper  of  the  students,  continued:  "But  while  I  think 
of  Mr.  Clark  as  the  students'  friend,  I  like  to  claim 
Mr.  Clark  as  my  friend.  My  association  with  him  was 
not  very  intimate  in  the  early  years,  but  with  each  suc- 
ceeding year  my  association  became  more  and  more  in- 
timate. I  have  gone  to  him  in  times  of  trouble ;  I  have 
gone  to  him  in  times  of  joy.  I  have  always  found  him 
the  same.  I  have  found  him  always  ready  to  listen,  to 
help  in  any  way  that  he  could.  Never,  in  my  experi- 
ence, did  Mr.  Clark  divulge  a  confidence." 

On  the  same  occasion,  Rev.  A.  D.  Wolfe,  Ph.D., 
said:  "It  would  be  absurd  to  speak  of  'Father  Clark' 
as  a  great  man  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  the  word.  He 
occupied  a  quiet  place.  He  was  a  most  unpretentious 
man.  But  as  I  look  back  at  the  twenty-five  years  it  has 
been  my  privilege  to  be  associated  with  him,  I  feel  I 
lived  in  the  presence  of  a  great  soul.  .  .  . 

"When  I  came  here  as  a  lad,  he  gave  me  the  word 
of  welcome;  came  to  see  me,  and  helped  me  to  get  over 
those  first  few  days  of  homesickness;  and  that  is  what 
he  has  done  for  many  teachers  and  students  since  the 
day  he  came  to  Park  College.  He  visited  the  sick.  In 

[384] 


Biographical  Sketches 

the  early  days,  before  the  hospital  came  into  being,  Mr. 
Clark  went  to  the  dormitories  and  to  our  homes  in  the 
village  with  medicine  and  cheering  word.  He  has  been 
the  helpful  one,  the  one  who  gave  service  so  quietly,  so 
warm-heartedly,  to  all  of  us.  He  has  been  most  deeply 
interested  in  the  spiritual  life  of  Park  College,  and  in 
the  teaching  life  of  those  who  make  up  Park  College. 
There  has  been  no  good  work  that  he  has  not  given  his 
warm  encouragement  and  help.  And  he  has  not  grown 
narrow  and  crabbed  with  age.  His  outlook  upon  the 
world,  as  Christ  gave  us  to  do,  was  always  bright  and 
cheery.  He  has  never  been  afraid  of  scientific  prog- 
ress. He  was  always  open-hearted  to  truth  and  worth 
and  to  all  the  truth  might  bring.  And  so  I  am  glad 
to  bring  this  brief  and  inadequate  tribute  of  love." 

Mr.  Clark  married  at  Corisco,  January  1,  1861, 
Miss  Maria  Mitchell  Jackson  of  Xenia,  Ohio, 
daughter  of  David  and  Anna  (Mitchell)  Jackson,  and 
a  descendant  of  David  Mitchell,  who  was  born  in  1777 
in  Scotland  or  Ireland,  and  coming  to  this  country,  set- 
tled in  Pennsylvania.  This  bit  of  history  quite  clearly 
indicates  a  Scotch-Irish  ancestry.  Mrs.  Clark  is  still 
living,  and  resides  with  a  son  at  Lyons,  Nebraska. 

Of  their  six  children  five  are  still  living:  Rev.  Wal- 
ter Jackson  Clark,  a  graduate  of  Park  College,  in  the 
class  of  1888,  and  of  Union  Theological  Seminary  in 
1891,  a  missionary  in  Lahore,  India;  William  Robin- 
son Clark,  M.D.,  Parkville,  Missouri;  Caroline  Roe 
Clark,  formerly  a  missionary  in  Firozpur,  India;  Rev. 
James  Griggs  Clark,  pastor  of  a  Presbyterian  church 
at  Lyons,  Nebraska;  and  Rev.  Edgar  David 
Clark,  pastor  of  a  Presbyterian  church  at  Lexington, 
Nebraska. 

Besides  the  translation  of  portions  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament, and  the  writings  already  referred  to,  Mr.  Clark 
translated  some  hymns  into  Benga  (the  Corsico  lan- 

385 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

guage),  and  in  1910  published  a  "History  of  Platte 
Presbytery." 

CLASS  OF  1855 

DAYID  COIT  SCUDDER  was  born  in  Boston,  Massa- 
chusetts, October  27,  1835.  He  was  the  seventh 
child  of  Charles,  and  the  eldest  of  the  children  of 
Charles  and  Sarah  Lathrop  (Coit)  Scudder,  grand- 
son of  David  and  Desire  (Gage)  Scudder,  and  a 
descendant  of  John  Scudder,  who  emigrated  from  Lon- 
don, England,  in  1635,  settling  in  Charlestown,  Mas- 
sachusetts, and  in  1640  at  Barnstable,  Massachusetts. 
On  his  mother's  side,  through  the  Manwarings  and 
Saltonstalls,  his  lineage  is  traced  to  Governor  Win- 
throp.  Thus  the  father  and  mother  were  Puritan  in 
origin  and,  in  the  conduct  of  the  household,  they  pre- 
served the  best  principles  of  Puritan  life.  When  there 
occurred  the  separation  of  the  Congregational  Church 
into  two  sects,  the  father  became  a  firm  supporter  of 
the  Orthodox  belief  and  was  a  prominent  member  of 
the  Orthodox  connection  and  a  deacon  in  Union  Church 
(Essex  Street).  While  the  home  was  a  Puritan 
home,  where  the  Assembly's  Shorter  Catechism  was 
learned  and  the  Sabbath  strictly  observed,  yet  it  was 
a  home  where  abundant,  rational  enjoyment  prevailed. 
Not  a  little  of  the  brightening  of  the  home  life  was  due 
to  the  personal  presence  of  the  father,  who  was  de- 
scribed as  the  sunniest-minded  of  men  as  he  was  physi- 
cally the  heartiest.  A  happy  circumstance  in  the  home 
life  of  David  Scudder  was  the  distinction  of  his  father. 
Charles  Scudder  had  been  a  hardware  and  commission 
merchant  in  Boston  for  fifty  years,  so  that  when  he 
retired  he  was  widely  known,  and  his  reputation  for 
honor,  integrity,  and  sound  judgment  was  of  the  high- 
est kind.  That  the  home  was  one  where  high  intellec- 
tual ideals  prevailed  is  evidenced  by  the  fact  that  three 

[386] 


Biographical  Sketches 

brothers  besides  David  received  a  college  education. 
These  were  Evarts  (Williams  1854),  who  became  a 
clergyman;  Samuel  Hubbard  (Williams  1857),  the 
scientist;  and  Horace  Elisha  (Williams  1858),  the 
author.  To  the  training  and  environment  of  the  home 
must  be  added  the  influence  of  the  Sunday-school  and 
grammar  school.  Such  a  home  was  naturally  open  to 
persons  whom  it  was  worth  while  to  know;  and  espe- 
cially were  missionaries  welcome  guests.  One  of  the 
most  noticeable  of  these  was  Rev.  John  Scudder,  mis- 
sionary to  India,  who,  though  only  distantly  related 
by  blood,  became  strongly  attached  to  the  family  by 
the  band  of  a  common  object.  That  these  visits  had 
not  a  little  to  do  with  forming  the  life  purposes  of  one 
member  of  the  household  may  be  inferred  from  a  paper 
prepared  by  David  Scudder  in  which  he  enumerates 
as  the  causes  of  his  missionary  purpose,  first,  the  in- 
fluence of  Mrs.  Lothrop,  the  school-teacher,  second,  his 
mother's  wishes,  and  third,  "Dr.  John  Scudder's  per- 
sonal interest  and  influence  over  me." 

A  not  unimportant  event  in  the  life  of  David  Scud- 
der was  the  removal  of  the  family,  when  he  was  eleven 
years  of  age,  to  a  place  which  was  then  on  the  country 
side  of  the  city  of  Roxbury,  three  miles  from  Boston. 
Here  the  restless  activity  of  the  boy,  which  had  suf- 
fered some  restraint  in  the  city,  found  wide  field  for 
exercise.  Here,  too,  his  taste  for  farm  life,  for  which 
he  had  a  strong  inclination,  could  be  indulged,  while 
he  raised  vegetables  and  kept  hens  and  pigs,  besides  a 
large  collection  of  pets.  The  occupations  and  sports 
of  country  life  were  good  for  a  boy  who  was  described 
as  "half -intoxicated  with  life,  wilful  in  his  love  of  free- 
dom, and  impatient  of  all  restraint."  But  when  in  his 
biography,  we  find  this  characterization  of  the  lad  and 
read  further  that  "he  was  a  troublesome  boy,  heady  and 
determined,"  "a  hard  boy  to  manage,"  we  are  to  bear 

[387] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

in  mind  that  deep  down  in  his  nature  were  strong  love 
and  gentleness,  and  that  he  ever  obeyed  fearlessly  "an 
educated  instinct  of  pure-toned  morality." 

He  was  fitted  for  college  in  the  Boston  Latin 
School,  whither  he  was  sent  soon  after  the  removal  to 
Roxbury,  and  where  he  spent  four  years.  Here,  under 
Mr.  Charles  Short,  who  was  then  master  of  the  school, 
David  secured  an  unusually  good  preparation  in  the 
classics.  The  summer  before  entering  college  was 
spent  on  the  farm  of  a  relative  in  Wethersfield,  Con- 
necticut, and  had  he  followed  his  natural  inclination,  he 
would  have  been  a  farmer.  By  the  requirement  of  his 
father  that  he  should  take  a  year  or  two  of  college  life 
before  definitely  deciding  upon  his  life  work,  he  entered 
college  as  a  Freshman  in  1851,  being  one  of  the  young- 
est members  of  his  class.  His  love  of  nature  and  out- 
door life  found  full  satisfaction  in  the  region  around 
Williamstown.  With  boyish  enthusiasm  he  tramped 
through  Flora's  Glen,  or  up  Stone  Hill,  or,  on  holidays, 
up  Greylock  or  some  other  mountain,  "letting  off 
steam"  by  chanting  or  singing.  He  even  set  traps  in 
the  woods  for  rabbits  and  squirrels  and  by  reason  of  his 
enthusiasm  became  a  valued  member  of  the  Lyceum  of 
Natural  History.  While  he  was  in  the  full  tide  of  this 
hearty  enjoyment  there  occurred  an  event  which  re- 
vealed the  fine  material  of  his  nature.  When  there 
came  to  him  the  news  that  his  father  had  suffered  seri- 
ous reverses  and  that  greater  economy  had  to  be  prac- 
ticed at  home,  David  wrote  home  for  permission  to 
leave  college  that  he  might  become  a  laborer  on  some 
farm  and  thus  relieve  the  father  of  some  expense.  In 
the  meantime  he  surrendered  his  room  in  town,  taking 
a  cheaper  one  at  the  top  of  West  College,  and  secured 
the  position  of  janitor,  to  a  recitation  room. 

Of  his  college  years  a  few  reminiscences  are  given 
by  his  classmate,  Rev.  William  W.  Adams,  D.D.,  who 

[388] 


Biographical  Sketches 

prepared  for  the  Class  History  a  biographical  sketch 
of  Mr.  Scudder.  "When  'Dave'  entered  college,"  says 
Dr.  Adams,  "he  was  nearly  sixteen  years  of  age,  but 
not  more  mature  than  some  boys  of  twelve.  He  came 
from  a  suburban  home,  but  was  as  unsophisticated  as 
any  boy  could  be  who  had  been  brought  up  on  a  farm. 
Home  life  had  been  simple,  natural,  earnestly  Chris- 
tian, according  to  the  primitive  spirit  of  New  England; 
and  'Dave'  himself  had  remarkable  simplicity  of  na- 
ture. His  tastes  were  rural  and  boyish,  the  developing 
forces  healthfully  slow  in  action.  All  who  knew  him 
during  Freshman  year  will  remember  his  boyish  ap- 
pearance, his  white  hair,  his  roundabout,  uncovered  by 
overcoat  in  the  coldest  of  weather,  his  habit  of  running 
through  the  streets,  his  passion  for  trapping  rabbits  on 
Stone  Hill,  his  odd  humors  and  explosive  laughter." 
In  a  letter  of  recent  date,  Dr.  Adams  gives  the  follow- 
ing words  of  reminiscence:  "Scudder  was  my  very 
intimate  friend, — a  spontaneous,  transparent  boy  in 
early  college  days,  very  impulsive  in  sunny,  kindly,  di- 
verse ways, — fond  of  nature,  earnest  in  untrained  as- 
piration, very  conscientious  and  faithful  in  a  religious 
life  which  began  in  my  room." 

Although,  from  early  years,  along  with  a  boyish  in- 
clination for  a  farmer's  life,  he  had  seen  that  he  had 
been  set  apart  for  a  missionary's  life,  it  was  not  till  his 
return  from  a  long  winter  vacation  that  he  decided  the 
question  of  personal  religious  duty.  With  him  the 
question  of  becoming  a  Christian  and  that  of  becoming 
a  missionary  were  inseparably  connected.  Henceforth 
the  missionary  idea  became  with  him  a  ruling  purpose. 
This  period  of  his  conversion  was,  in  most  respects,  the 
most  important  epoch  of  his  life :  it  not  only  gave  him 
the  controlling  idea  of  a  life  purpose,  but  it  gave  a  great 
impulse  to  his  intellectual  faculties.  Simultaneously 
with  his  conversion  there  began  a  revival  of  religion  in 

[389] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

the  college,  and  he  became  an  active  worker  among  his 
fellow  students.  His  missionary  purpose,  too,  re- 
mained unshaken.  He  became  a  zealous  and  enthusi- 
astic member  of  the  Mills  Theological  Society,  not  only 
faithfully  performing  his  allotted  duties  but  entering 
into  correspondence  with  individual  missionaries  all 
over  the  world.  He  wrote  letters  and  took  long  jour- 
neys in  the  hope  of  finding  some  good  likeness  of  Sam- 
uel J.  Mills,  from  whom  the  Society  took  its  name. 
Though  unsuccessful,  and  singularly  forgetful  of  good 
or  honor  for  himself,  in  recognition  of  his  efforts,  he  was 
elected  president  of  the  Society. 

His  zeal  for  missions  showed  itself  in  other  ways 
also  than  in  the  Mills  Society.  He  used  his  influence 
to  persuade  others  to  become  missionaries,  and  by  out- 
side readings  began  to  prepare  himself  more  carefully 
for  the  work  he  had  undertaken.  In  his  missionary 
studies  he  had  the  advice  of  Rev.  H,  R.  Hoisington 
(Williams  1828),  who  had  been  at  the  head  of  the  Bat- 
ticotta  school  in  Ceylon,  and  who  was  at  this  time  pas- 
tor of  the  Congregational  Church  in  Williamstown.  It 
was  by  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  Hoisington,  who  was  an 
admirable  Tamil  scholar,  that  David  took  up  the  study 
of  that  language. 

In  the  meantime  he  was  working  faithfully  in  the 
studies  of  the  curriculum,  excelling  especially  in  the 
classics,  and  each  succeeding  year  of  his  college  course 
bore  witness  to  the  development  of  his  intellectual 
power.  He  devoted  more  time  to  thinking  and  writ- 
ing, and  papers  by  him,  on  "Language"  and  "One 
Primeval  Language,"  appeared  in  the  Williams  Quar- 
terly. He  was  one  of  the  speakers  at  Commencement, 
the  subject  of  his  address  being  "Our  Country,  the 
Moulding  Agent  of  the  World." 

The  year  after  graduation  he  spent  at  Andover 
Theological  Seminary.  Here  he  had  the  same  oppor- 

[390] 


Biographical  Sketches 

tunities  for  outdoor  life  which  he  had  enjoyed  at  Wil- 
liamstown,  and  which  he  still  needed  to  carry  off  his 
exuberance.  Here  there  were  more  opportunities  for 
social  life  in  the  regular  gatherings  at  the  professors' 
houses,  which  he  felt  bound  to  attend  that  he  might 
overcome  his  constitutional  aversion  to  society.  He 
took  hold  of  the  regular  studies  of  the  course  energeti- 
cally, and  showed  great  industry  in  private  reading, 
especially  of  books  in  general  literature.  He  found 
special  delight  in  the  association  with  students  who  were 
to  become  foreign  missionaries.  Soon  after  entering 
the  seminary,  he  had  been  asked  to  join  a  society  of 
"Christian  Brethren,"  a  society  which  had  been  founded 
by  Mills,  in  Williamstown,  and  had  been  removed  to 
Andover.  The  membership  was  limited  exclusively  to 
those  who  had  devoted  themselves  to  the  foreign  mis- 
sionary work.  The  effect  of  this  association  upon  him 
was  most  generous,  contributing,  as  it  did,  to  his 
growth,  and  imparting  new  zest  in  his  studies. 

During  1856-1857,  which  his  biographer  calls  "A 
Year  of  Experiment,"  his  seminary  course  was  inter- 
mitted. That  he  might  obtain  a  facility  of  converse 
with  the  world,  and  obtain  a  better  knowledge  of  men 
and  of  himself,  he  accepted  an  opportunity  to  become 
a  Bible  colporteur  for  two  months  in  the  neighborhood 
of  Orange,  New  Jersey.  After  the  completion  of  this 
work,  the  remainder  of  the  year  he  spent  at  his  father's 
house,  extending  his  studies  more  widely  and  engaging 
in  various  forms  of  religious  work  in  the  city. 

Returning  to  Andover  in  September,  1857,  he  re- 
sumed his  studies  where  he  had  left  off  a  year  before. 
Outside  the  studies  of  the  curriculum,  he  read  widely 
in  Hindu  philosophy,  and  continued  his  study  of  the 
Tamil,  in  connection  with  which  he  pursued  some 
investigations  into  comparative  philology.  He  infused 
new  life  into  the  Society  of  Inquiry,  increased  the  mem- 

[391] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

bership  of  the  "Brethren"  and,  to  create  a  general  in- 
terest in  missions,  he  with  three  of  his  classmates  wrote 
a  series  of  papers  in  the  New  York  Independent. 

Not  realizing  his  expectation  to  sail  for  India  in  the 
autumn  after  graduating  from  Andover,  he  spent  two 
years  at  the  home  of  his  father,  busy  with  his  studies 
and  writing  articles  for  publication.  Among  other 
studies  pursued  during  this  period  may  be  mentioned 
Tamil  grammar,  South  Indian  comparative  grammar, 
Sanskrit,  ancient  Hindu  history,  British  Indian  history. 
He  published  in  the  Boston  Recorder  twelve  papers  on 
Ancient  Indian  Literature,  and  in  the  Bibliotheca  Sacra 
an  essay  on  the  "Aborigines  of  India,"  and  also  in  the 
same  periodical  in  two  parts,  an  essay  under  the  title  of 
"A  Sketch  of  Hindu  Philosophy." 

The  last  months  of  this  period  spent  at  home  were 
unusually  busy  months.  He  engaged  in  manifold 
forms  of  unceasing  activity.  Along  with  his  writing 
and  his  studies,  he  often  preached,  took  a  partial  course 
in  medicine,  held  neighborhood  meetings,  and  talked 
often  to  children,  in  which  occupation  he  took  great 
delight  and  met  with  remarkable  success. 

He  was  ordained  as  a  missionary  February  25, 
1861,  his  pastor,  Rev.  Dr.  Nehemiah  Adams,  preach- 
ing the  sermon.  On  March  11  Mr.  Scudder  and  wife, 
Rev.  Edward  Webb  and  Mrs.  Webb  with  two  chil- 
dren, returning  to  the  Madura  Mission;  Rev.  John 
Scudder  and  wife,  on  their  return  to  the  Arcot  Mis- 
sion, and  a  few  others,  sailed  from  Boston  for  Madras, 
which  they  reached  after  a  voyage  of  107  days. 

After  spending  a  few  days  in  Madras,  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Scudder  started  for  Madura,  Mr.  Webb  and  fam- 
ily accompanying  them  as  far  as  Dindigul,  the  station 
formerly  occupied  by  them.  Here  Mr.  Scudder  and 
wife  remained  about  a  fortnight,  and  were  welcomed 
by  Mr.  Washburn,  a  college  classmate  of  Mr.  Scud- 

[  392  ] 


Biographical  Sketches 

der.  In  August  they  reached  Madura,  where  they 
were  most  cordially  welcomed  by  the  mission  circle 
there  and  where  they  remained  for  seven  months,  be- 
ing occupied  with  immediate  preparation  for  a  sepa- 
rate station.  The  new  station,  to  which  they  removed 
in  February,  1862,  was  Periakulam,  one  of  the  most 
populous  and  influential  villages  of  the  Madura  dis- 
trict. The  village  had  a  church,  which  had  a  native 
pastor  and  a  congregation  of  more  than  one  hundred, 
though  at  that  time  sadly  divided  by  a  protracted  liti- 
gation between  the  two  deacons.  In  one  of  his  first 
letters  from  his  new  station,  he  gives  a  full  description 
of  the  scenery  around  the  village  which  lies  in  the  val- 
ley of  Vaigai  River,  not  far  from  the  Pulney  Hills, 
which  rise  to  a  height  of  over  8000  feet.  The  mission- 
ary district,  which  came  under  Mr.  Scudder's  care,  was 
about  twelve  miles  in  diameter  and  included  many  vil- 
lages. The  nature  of  his  field  required  him  to  make 
many  tours.  A  passage  from  one  of  his  journal  let- 
ters tells  of  his  having  visited  twenty-five  villages 
and  preached  to  2500  people  in  the  tour  of  a  week. 

One  of  the  interesting  features  of  his  work  was  the 
series  of  letters  which,  according  to  agreement,  he 
wrote  to  such  schools  in  America  as  should  contribute 
to  the  support  of  native  schools  in  the  Madura  Mis- 
sion. Along  with  the  letter  writing,  preaching,  tour- 
ing, teaching,  he  was  ever  the  assiduous  student.  Not 
only  did  he  devote  much  time  to  acquiring  facility  in 
the  use  of  the  native  language,  but  he  was  a  close  stu- 
dent in  subjects  of  philology,  Hindu  philosophy,  and 
Indian  antiquity.  While  spending  a  summer  in  the 
Pulney  Hills,  he  made  a  special  investigation  among 
the  cromlechs,  and  other  ancient  remains  which  were 
found  in  great  abundance  in  the  neighborhood  of  his 
station.  After  he  decided  to  become  a  missionary  he 
had  spent  nine  years  in  making  preparation  for  his  dis- 

[393] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

tinctive  work,  and  with  his  habits  of  systematic  study 
and  broad  culture  already  secured,  had  he  been  spared 
many  years  of  service,  not  only  would  he  have  accom- 
plished much  in  the  particular  line  of  mission  work,  but 
would,  undoubtedly,  have  made  important  contribu- 
tions to  the  sciences  of  philology  and  archaeology.  But 
he  made  all  his  culture  and  study  subservient  and  con- 
tributory to  his  special  work  as  a  missionary.  In  this 
work  he  was  becoming  more  and  more  engrossed. 
This  earnestness  may  be  inferred  from  the  following 
extract  from  a  letter  written  to  his  mother  a  few  months 
before  his  death:  "I  have  plenty  of  work  to  do  and  it 
is  growing  fast  upon  me.  My  young  head  is  full  of 
all  sorts  of  projects  for  touring  and  laboring  here,  some 
crude  enough,  and  all  tumbling  helter-skelter  over 
each  other  in  my  brain.  .  .  .  The  care  of  all  the 
churches  weighs  upon  me.  How  can  I  get  more  than 
fifty  persons  out  of  a  church  of  150  to  come  to  meet- 
ing on  Sunday?  How  can  I  get  the  people  to  give 
contributions  regularly?  How  can  I  get  more  than  ten 
boys  from  this  church  to  attend  school?  How  can  I 
start  an  evening  school?  How  can  I,  with  a  force  of 
four  catechists,  preach  the  gospel  effectually  to  a  thou- 
sand villages?  Such  questions  and  many  more  are  in 
my  mind  the  whole  time.  .  .  .  But  in  spite  of  all,  or 
perhaps  more  truly  on  account  of  all  this,  I  am  happy 
and  becoming  more  and  more  interested  in  the  work. 
If  one  only  goes  to  work  the  right  way  here,  he  will 
certainly  see  the  fruits  soon." 

But  these  fruits  he  was  not  permitted  to  see. 
While  this  young  missionary,  with  his  enthusiasm  and 
enterprise,  was  planning  for  a  reformation,  and  was 
exciting  expectations  of  uncommon  usefulness,  he  was 
suddenly  called  away  on  November  19,  1862,  before  the 
expiration  of  his  first  year,  at  the  age  of  27.  He  had 
been  to  Andipatti  to  see  a  sick  person  and  to  secure 

[394] 


Biographical  Sketches 

for  his  annual  report  details  respecting  the  state  of 
the  schools  and  congregation.  On  his  returning,  he 
found  the  Vaigai  River,  which  he  was  obliged  to  cross, 
greatly  swollen  by  recent  rains.  The  river  was  rising, 
and  delay  might  be  greatly  prolonged.  Being  a  good 
swimmer  and  having  previously  swam  the  river  at  this 
point,  he  did  not  hesitate  now.  But  when  he  was 
about  half-way  across,  a  new  river,  as  it  were,  caused 
by  the  giving  way  of  a  tank  above,  was  seen  by  the  by- 
standers to  come  like  a  wall  and  overwhelm  him.  This 
was  on  Wednesday.  On  the  following  Sabbath  his 
body  was  found  at  Sholavandan,  a  village  thirty  miles 
below,  and  thirteen  miles  above  Madura.  Mr.  Scud- 
der  was  buried  at  the  Sanitarium  on  the  Pulney  Hills, 
in  a  spot  which  overlooks  the  field  of  his  labors. 

The  memorial  stone  placed  over  the  grave  bears 
upon  one  side  the  inscription: — 

DAVID  COIT  SCUDDER. 
"HE  LEADETH  ME  BESIDE  THE  STILL  WATERS." 

On  the  other  side  are  given  the  dates  of  birth,  land- 
ing at  Madras,  and  death. 

Rev.  Mr.  Kendall  of  the  Madura  station  wrote  of 
him:  "He  had  endeared  himself  to  us  all.  He  was 
most  genial  in  his  intercourse  with  his  associates,  most 
diligent  in  his  application  to  study,  and  most  earnest 
and  zealous  in  his  efforts  to  promote  the  cause  of  Christ 
at  his  station.  We  were  looking  to  him  as  a  strong 
man,  upon  whom  we  could  rely  to  bear  the  heat  and 
burden  of  the  day.  But  in  a  moment  he  is  snatched 
away,  and  we  mourn  our  loss,  the  loss  to  the  cause  so 
near  our  hearts,  and  the  loss  to  our  dear  sister,  whose 
bereavement  cannot  be  told." 

The  importance  of  a  life  like  this  is  not  to  be  esti- 
mated by  the  short  period  of  sixteen  months  actually 
spent  in  the  foreign  field,  but  rather  this  together  with 
the  nine  years  of  preparation  in  college,  seminary,  and 

[395] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

post-graduate  study  and  work  in  this  country.  As 
in  the  case  of  Samuel  J.  Mills,  it  may  not  be  incorrect 
to  say  that  Mr.  Scudder's  most  important  service  for 
the  cause  of  missions  was  rendered  in  this  country  be- 
fore he  set  foot  on  foreign  soil.  To  the  value  of  his 
influence  in  the  seminary  the  senior  professor  gave 
weighty  testimony  when  on  receiving  intelligence  of  the 
death  of  Mr.  Scudder,  he  met  his  class  in  the  lecture- 
room  and  spent  the  hour  in  rendering  tribute  to  the  stu- 
dent who  had  left  upon  the  seminary  the  stamp  of  his 
personal  power  and  influence.  "You  could  trace  his 
course  through  this  seminary,"  said  he,  "as  a  river 
through  a  meadow,  by  the  greenness  of  its  banks.  If 
he  had  died  immediately  upon  leaving  us,  he  would 
have  done  a  life's  work." 

Mr.  Scudder  married  February  27,  1861,  Miss  Har- 
riet L.  Button,  daughter  of  George  D.  Button,  Esq., 
of  Boston,  who  was  associated  with  Mr.  Scudder's 
father  as  deacon  in  Union  Church.  Of  this  marriage 
one  child,  a  daughter,  Miss  Vida  Button  Scudder,  was 
born  Becember,  1861.  Miss  Scudder  was  graduated 
at  Smith  College  in  1884,  and  pursued  graduate  study 
at  Oxford  and  Paris.  She  received  the  degree  of 
A.  M.  from  Smith  in  1889.  Besides  being  an  author 
and  editor,  she  is  Professor  of  English  in  Wellesley 
College. 

In  1864  a  very  complete  life  of  Mr.  Scudder  was 
published  by  his  brother,  Horace  E.  Scudder.  The 
volume  contains  many  of  the  letters  and  extracts  from 
the  journal  of  the  missionary.  The  present  sketch 
has  been  compiled,  very  largely,  from  this  biography. 
Besides  the  letters  here  mentioned  as  published  by  his 
brother,  and  the  papers  previously  mentioned  as  pub- 
lished in  the  Boston  Recorder  and  Bibliotheca  Sacra, 
Mr.  Scudder  published  a  package  of  children's  tracts, 
called  "Stories  about  the  Heathen." 

[396] 


Biographical  Sketches 

GEORGE  THOMAS  WASHBURN,  son  of  Captain  Miles 
Washburn  and  Emily  (Hatch)  Washburn,  and  grand- 
son of  Jacob  and  Phebe  (Northrup)  Washburn,  and  of 
Dan  Hatch  and  Lucy  (Jones)  Hatch,  was  born  in 
Lenox,  Massachusetts,  September  5,  1832.  The  family 
of  Washburn  is  one  of  distinction  both  in  America  and 
England,  and  its  well-authenticated  lineage  is  also  a 
long  one.  The  American  Washburns  are  for  the  most 
part  descended,  through  eight  generations  of  Knights 
and  Esquires,  from  Sir  Roger  de  Wasseborne,  Kt., 
Lord  of  Wasseborne  and  Stanford,  County  Worces- 
ter, 1239-1299.  The  first  emigrant  of  the  family  to  this 
country  was  John  Washburn,  who  had  been  church 
warden  of  Benquith  parish,  and  who  with  his  wife, 
Margery  Moore,  and  two  sons,  John  and  Philip,  emi- 
grated to  the  Plymouth  colony  in  the  earlier  part  of  the 
seventeenth  century.  He  settled  first  in  Duxbury, 
Massachusetts,  and  later,  with  Miles  Standish  and 
others,  bought  a  tract  of  land  of  the  Indians  in  Bridge- 
water,  where  the  family  gathered  about  1665.  Dan 
Hatch,  the  maternal  grandfather  of  the  subject  of  this 
sketch,  was  descended  from  Thomas  and  Grace  Hatch, 
who  emigrated  from  Kent  County,  England,  to  Massa- 
chusetts Bay,  about  1630.  Lucy  (Jones)  Hatch,  wife 
of  Dan  Hatch,  was  a  descendant  of  William  Jones,  who 
emigrated  from  London,  1660,  and  became  Assistant 
and  Deputy  Governor  of  the  New  Haven  Colony,  and 
Assistant  of  the  United  Colony.  Among  the  ancestors 
who  were  especially  distinguished,  may  be  mentioned 
two  great-grandfathers,  Samuel  Northrup  and  Thomas 
Gates,  and  two  grandfathers,  Elijah  ISTorthrup  and 
Dan  Hatch,  who  were  all  privates  or  petty  officers  in  the 
Revolutionary  War.  Dan  Hatch  was  in  the  battle  of 
Long  Island,  was  captured  in  the  retreat  from  New 
York  and  suffered  a  long  imprisonment  in  the  Old 
Sugar  House ;  John  Washburn,  son  of  the  emigrant,  was 

[397] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

a  soldier  in  the  first  Indian  War,  while  John,  the  father 
of  the  emigrant,  was  appointed  by  King  James  in  1605, 
Burgess  of  Evesham,  when  he  granted  that  town  a 
charter.  The  Washburns  in  England  have  held  an 
abundance  of  offices  both  in  church  and  state,  while  in 
America  they  have  been  the  best  sort  of  citizens,  many 
of  them  being  governors,  judges,  state  senators,  and 
national  representatives,  while  some  have  represented 
the  country  abroad.  More  than  325  were  enrolled  in 
the  Revolutionary  Army. 

Captain  Miles  Washburn,  the  father  of  George  T., 
was  a  farmer,  business  man,  and  bank  director.  It  has 
been  said  of  him  that  he  was  possessed  of  all  the  New 
England  virtues  and  few  of  the  New  Englander's  de- 
fects. He  was  a  devoutly  religious  man  and  a  generous 
supporter  of  religion.  Before  the  day  of  the  Wash- 
ingtonians  he  was  a  temperance  reformer,  and  was  al- 
ways such  a  lover  of  peace  and  concord  that,  in  a  long 
and  varied  business  career,  he  never  sued  another  at  law 
and  never  was  sued. 

George  Thomas  Washburn  fitted  for  college  in 
Lenox  Academy  and  entered  Williams  College  in  1851. 
The  class  to  which  he  belonged  was  one  of  rather  un- 
usual distinction.  In  reporting  the  fiftieth  anniversary 
of  this  class,  the  secretary,  with  proper  pride,  wrote  as 
follows:  "Since  graduation  we  have  preserved  our  ac- 
quaintance, strengthened  our  associations,  intensified 
our  class  spirit  and  have  become  justly  proud  of  the 
class  because  of  what  its  members  have  accomplished. 
It  ranks  with  celebrated  American  college  classes,  with 
those  of  1825  at  Bowdoin,  1846  at  Harvard  and  1837 
and  1853  at  Yale."  In  speaking  of  the  individual  mem- 
bers of  the  class,  the  secretary  adds:  "Three  (Scudder, 
Washburn,  and  Woodin),  went  as  missionaries  to  the 
far  East,  one  (Scudder)  meeting  sudden  death  just  as, 
with  rapt  ardor,  he  had  entered  his  field;  another 

[398] 


Biographical  Sketches 

(Woodin)  was  assiduous  in  translating  the  Bible  into 
various  Chinese  dialects,  benign  in  the  evangelizing  of 
a  heathen  community;  and  yet  another  (Washburn) 
has  wrought  mightily  in  founding  and  maintaining  the 
Christian  college  in  the  heart  of  India."  But  besides 
sending  three  missionaries  into  the  foreign  field,  the 
class  gave  two  professors  and  two  trustees  to  the  Alma 
Mater.  Among  other  distinguished  names  on  the  class 
roll  were  Charles  Elliott  Fitch,  John  James  Ingalls, 
Edward  Payson  Ingersoll,  William  Parker  Prentice. 

In  college,  Washburn  was  a  faithful,  successful  stu- 
dent, and  a  Christian  man  who  always  exerted  a  whole- 
some influence.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Mills 
Theological  Society.  He  was  one  of  the  speakers  at 
Commencement,  the  subject  of  his  oration  being, 
"American  Literature — Its  Characteristics  and  their 
Causes." 

After  graduation,  he  studied  theology  at  Andover 
Seminary,  where  he  was  graduated  in  1858.  He  also 
studied  medicine  for  a  time  in  New  York  City.  In  the 
year  1858-59  he  was  pastor  of  a  church  in  East  Guil- 
ford,  Vermont.  He  was  ordained  in  Lenox,  Massachu- 
setts, March  24,  1859.  Under  appointment  of  the 
American  Board,  he  sailed  from  Boston  on  January  2, 
1860,  for  Madras,  to  join  the  Madura  Mission,  arriving 
at  Madras  April  12,  100  days  from  Boston.  He  was  at 
first  stationed  at  Battalagundu,  where  he  remained 
eight  years.  In  1869  he  was  transferred  by  the  mission 
to  Pasumalai,  where  were  spent  thirty  of  the  forty 
years  of  his  missionary  life,  and  where  was  performed 
his  great  life  work  which  was  largely  educational.  For 
thirty  years  he  stood  at  the  head  of  the  higher  educa- 
tion in  the  Madura  Mission.  He  organized,  superin- 
tended and  provided  the  plant  for  the  higher  education, 
the  plant  including  a  High  School,  Teachers'  Training 
Institute,  a  College,  which  was  affiliated  with  the  Uni- 

[899] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

versity  of  Madras,  and  a  Theological  School.  For  the 
first  five  years  after  going  to  Pasumalai,  Dr.  Washburn 
had  charge  of  the  Theological  School.  For  the  next 
twenty-five  years  he  was  at  the  head  of  the  College  and 
Training  Institution,  and  until  1892  was  also  responsi- 
ble for  the  Theological  School.  The  Institute  has  over 
thirty  professors  and  instructors  and  has  already 
trained  over  2000  young  men.  In  all  departments  of 
these  various  schools  there  was  always  maintained,  un- 
der Dr.  Washburn,  a  high  standard  of  scholarship. 
Besides  these  services  rendered  to  education,  Dr.  Wash- 
burn  established  a  bi-lingual  press  and  newspaper,  and 
for  seventeen  years  carried  on,  with  his  wife,  a  famine 
orphanage.  Failing  health  led  him  to  retire  from  his 
work  at  the  end  of  March,  1900.  It  is  not  too  much  to 
say  that  Dr.  Washburn  impressed  himself  upon  the 
minds  of  the  whole  Hindu  race. 

During  the  forty  years  of  service  in  India,  Dr.  and 
Mrs.  Washburn  occasionally  visited  the  United  States, 
for  needed  recreation  and  recovery  of  health.  Two 
such  occasions  were  the  periods  1872-74  and  1896-97. 
The  letter  which  he  wrote  on  his  return  from  the  last- 
mentioned  visit  reveals  somewhat  of  the  extent  of  his 
influence  and  the  strength  of  the  affection  his  pupils 
had  for  him.  "On  landing  at  Madras,"  he  writes,  "we 
were  met  by  old  students  of  the  school  employed  in 
Madras ;  and  all  along  the  350  miles  of  country  between 
Madras  and  Madura,  teeming  with  population,  there  is 
not  a  mission  which  has  not  in  its  service  men  educated 
by  us  in  considerable  numbers,  and  occupying  places  of 
high  responsibility.  The  larger  part  are  men  of  our 
Madura  Mission.  Besides  the  Hindus  educated  in  our 
institution,  not  far  from  100  Christian  men  of  some  col- 
lege grade  have  gone  out  since  1881,  the  year  of  our 
affiliation  with  the  Madras  University,  to  find  work  for 
themselves.  And  it  is  a  most  interesting  fact  that 

[400] 


Biographical  Sketches 

nearly  every  one  of  them  has  gone,  not  into  govern- 
ment work  nor  into  secular  work,  but  into  mission 
work." 

Here  may  be  given,  appropriately,  an  extract  from 
a  communication  prepared  by  Principal  W.  M.  Zum- 
bro,  of  Pasumalai  College,  on  the  occasion  of  the  de- 
parture of  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Washburn.  "By  the  final 
return  to  America  of  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Washburn,  the 
Pasumalai  College  and  Training  Institution  lost  from 
its  active  staff  those  who  had  been  its  guiding  and  in- 
spiring geniuses  for  over  thirty  years.  It  could  not  but 
have  been  a  source  of  gratitude  to  these  faithful  serv- 
ants of  Christ  to  see  before  they  left  the  mission  an 
institution  so  well  provided  with  teachers,  with  build- 
ings and  with  general  equipment  as  this  is.  It  could 
hardly  have  been  less  gratifying  to  have  received  the 
numerous  expressions  of  heartfelt  gratitude  and  appre- 
ciation which  came  to  them  from  every  quarter  before 
their  departure.  Orphans  who  had  been  saved  from 
starvation  during  the  dreadful  famine  of  1877-78, 
Hindus  who  had  had  the  privilege  of  sharing  in  the  in- 
struction and  association  at  Pasumalai,  Christians  who 
had  been  helped  by  them,  helped  in  material  ways  in 
times  of  need,  helped  to  a  higher  life  by  words  of  coun- 
sel and  direction  and  by  the  example  of  a  consecrated 
life,  teachers  who  had  had  the  privilege  of  being  asso- 
ciated with  them  in  the  school  life  and  work,  all  joined 
in  expressions  of  thanksgiving  for  their  long  life  and 
service  in  India,  and  of  sorrow  as  they  remembered 
that  they  should  see  their  faces  no  more." 

Dr.  Washburn  received  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Di- 
vinity from  his  Alma  Mater  in  1889.  In  1897  he  was 
made  a  Fellow  of  the  University  of  Madras,  and,  for 
a  time,  served  on  its  Faculty  of  Arts.  He  is  one  of  the 
revisers  of  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society,  Ma- 
dras, a  member  of  the  Madras  Religious  Tract  and 

[401] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

Book  Society,  and  member  of  the  American  Oriental 
Society. 

Mr.  Washburn  was  married  September  1,  1859,  to 
Miss  Eliza  Ellen  Case,  daughter  of  Ira  and  Mary 
(Smith)  Case,  of  Gloversville,  New  York.  Mrs. 
Washburn  was  descended  from  ancestors  who  came 
from  England  to  Dorchester,  Massachusetts,  about 
1630.  She  died  July  23,  1914.  The  children  are  two 
sons:  Edwin  Case  Washburn  of  Hartford,  Connect- 
icut, and  David  Scudder  Washburn  of  Meriden, 
Connecticut. 

Dr.  Washburn  has  his  home  with  the  younger  son. 

Besides  his  many  interesting  letters  and  reports 
which  were  published  in  the  Missionary  Herald,  Dr. 
Washburn  compiled  and  edited  three  books  of  "Tamil 
Lyrics."  He  was  also  joint  editor  with  Mrs.  Wash- 
burn,  for  twenty-five  years,  of  a  bi-lingual  newspaper 
in  Madura. 

SIMEON  FOSTER  WOODIN,  son  of  George  C.  and 
Phebe  (Foster)  Woodin,  and  grandson  of  Daniel  and 
Thankful  (Graves)  Woodin,  and  of  Parla  and  Phebe 
(Wells)  Foster,  was  born  at  Green  River,  in  the  town 
of  Hillsdale,  Columbia  County,  New  York,  May  11, 
1833.  The  family  is  descended  from  Timothy  Woodin, 
who  emigrated  from  the  Isle  of  Wight,  it  is  believed, 
and  settled  in  New  England.  The  father  of  Simeon  F. 
Woodin  was  a  farmer.  The  son  obtained  his  prepara- 
tory education  at  the  academies  of  Austerlitz,  Spencer- 
town,  and  North  Granville,  New  York,  and  at  the 
academy  of  Great  Barrington,  Massachusetts.  He 
entered  college  in  1851.  In  college  he  was  very  conscien- 
tious and  faithful  religiously,  and  exceedingly  assidu- 
ous as  a  student.  At  the  Junior  Exhibition  he  was 
assigned  the  Latin  Oration  and  at  Commencement  he 
received  the  appointment  of  Salutatorian,  and  deliv- 

[402] 


Biographical  Sketches 

ered  the  Classical  Oration,  his  subject  being  "Knowl- 
edge of  Human  Nature  displayed  in  the  Classics."  He 
received  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts  in  course. 

After  graduation  he  taught,  for  a  year,  in  the  Spen- 
certown  Academy,  and  entered  Union  Theological  Sem- 
inary, from  which  he  was  graduated  in  1859.  While 
he  was  in  the  seminary,  he  preached  three  months 
(in  1857)  in  Bozrah,  Connecticut,  and  three  months  (in 
1858)  in  Coleraine,  Massachusetts.  He  was  licensed  to 
preach  by  the  Fourth  Presbytery  of  New  York,  April 
11,  1859,  and  was  ordained  by  the  same  Presbytery 
June  19,  of  the  same  year,  in  the  Central  Presbyterian 
Church,  New  York  City.  On  September  27,  he  sailed 
from  New  York,  under  appointment  of  the  American 
Board,  for  Foochow,  China,  arriving  there  February 
6,  1860.  For  nearly  thirty-five  years  he  labored  in  and 
about  Foochow  with  untiring  fidelity.  His  various 
communications  published  in  the  Missionary  Herald 
give  some  idea  of  the  variety  and  success  of  his  labors. 
He  devoted  much  time  to  various  educational  depart- 
ments, he  labored  in  the  preparation  of  books  and 
tracts,  and  served  on  committees  for  translating  and 
revising  the  Scriptures  in  the  colloquial.  In  addition  to 
all  these  services,  and  in  connection  with  them,  he  did 
extensive  evangelistic  work  in  preaching  and  itinerat- 
ing, in  which  he  labored  with  fidelity  and  at  all  seasons. 
Among  these  services  may  be  mentioned  the  tour  of  100 
miles  which  lie  made  every  year  up  the  Inghok  River 
over  a  field  which  is  now  superintended  by  a  missionary 
who  is  supported  by  the  church  of  a  classmate  of  Mr. 
Woodin.  His  letters,  now  and  then,  contain  records  of 
opposition  to  the  work  of  the  missionaries,  and  occa- 
sionally speak  of  vandalism,  but  the  keynote  of  his  com- 
munications is  sounded  in  the  expressed  determination 
of  ever  pushing  forward.  The  records  of  the  year  1876, 
after  sixteen  years  of  such  faithful  labor,  contain  the 

[403] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

joyous  account  of  the  ordination  of  the  first  two  native 
pastors  and  of  the  issuing  by  the  Government  of  a  proc- 
lamation guaranteeing  protection  to  the  missionaries. 

In  a  letter  written  about  a  year  before  his  death  to 
the  class  secretary  on  the  fortieth  anniversary  of  grad- 
uation, Mr.  Woodin  gives  the  following  brief  sketch 
of  the  later  years  of  his  missionary  life: 

"I  have  spent  the  last  fifteen  years  in  Foochow, 
China,  with  the  exception  of  a  furlough  of  a  year  and  a 
half  in  '83-84.  My  work  has  been  on  nearly  the  same 
lines  as  during  the  previous  twenty  years,  as  partly  re- 
lated in  the  class  book.  I  had  translated  into  the  Foo- 
chow Chinese  language  most  of  the  historical  books 
of  the  Old  Testament,  including  the  books  of  Ruth, 
Samuel,  Kings,  and  Chronicles,  also  the  last  books  of 
the  Old  Testament  and  half  of  the  Psalms.  Since  then 
I  have  assisted  in  revising  the  same  version  of  a  large 
part  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  of  a  portion  of  the 
New.  I  have  also  translated  a  first  book  of  Christian 
instruction  for  inquirers,  have  had  charge  of  six  school 
teachers,  eight  Chinese  preachers,  and  ten  regular 
preaching  places.  For  the  last  five  years  I  have  also 
taught  classes  of  students  preparing  for  the  ministry, 
and  have  been  treasurer  of  missions  for  the  past  nine 
years.  Ill  health  brought  me  to  America  in  May,  '95, 
for  a  year's  recuperation  after  a  ten-years'  absence. 
The  Chinese  and  Japan  War  had  just  closed  when  I 
left  China.  .  .  .  We  plan  to  return  to  the  work  in 
China  next  year.  Missionary  work  in  China  was  not 
harmed — probably  was  much  benefited  by  the  war. 
Protestant  missionaries  or  Chinese  preachers  are  now 
proclaiming  Christ  in  a  thousand  cities  and  villages  in 
seventeen  of  the  nineteen  Provinces  and  there  are  nearly 
50,000  adult  converts/' 

Mr.  Woodin  died  of  malarial  fever  at  the  home  of 
his  son  at  Amenia,  New  York,  June  28,  1896.  He  was 

[404] 


Biographical  Sketches 

buried   at   Amenia,   the    son   conducting   the   funeral 
services. 

The  secretary  of  the  class  wrote  of  him:  "Woodin  is 
remembered  as  one  of  our  most  thoughtful,  studious 
and  conscientious  men,  rather  diffident  and  reserved  in 
manner,  but  kindly  and  courteous.  His  rank  as  a 
scholar  was  very  high.  His  work  in  translating  the  Bi- 
ble into  the  Foochow  dialect  and  in  constant  missionary 
service  in  China  was  a  great  and  beneficent  one.  He 
was  among  the  most  useful  and  esteemed  servants  of  the 
American  Board  of  Foreign  Missions."  With  this 
judgment  of  a  classmate  corresponds  the  estimate  of  his 
fellow  workers  in  the  field  of  missions.  The  thorough- 
ness which  characterized  him  as  a  student  in  college 
characterized  his  work  as  a  missionary.  The  diffidence 
and  reserve  of  manner  of  the  student  days  remained 
with  him  in  maturer  years.  His  life  was  characterized 
by  great  simplicity  and  directness  of  purpose.  If,  at 
times,  there  was  an  apparent  hesitation  as  to  right 
methods,  it  should  be  attributed  to  an  honest  effort  to 
probe  a  subject  to  the  bottom.  His  keenness  of  percep- 
tion of  motives  and  character  in  the  native  mind  gave 
him  great  advantage  among  such  a  people  as  the  Chi- 
nese. The  assiduousness  with  which  he  had  pursued 
his  college  studies  found  its  counterpart  in  the  persist- 
ency with  which  he  wrought  in  the  missionary  life. 
Along  with  this  unyielding  persistency  and  underlying 
it  was  an  unwavering  faith,  even  in  the  darkest  hours, 
it  being  often  said  by  him  that  "no  work  wrought  for 
Christ  could  be  in  vain  or  unaccepted."  Hence  he  was 
characterized  as  a  plodder  in  one  of  the  best  senses. 
Under  a  very  easy  and  quiet  manner  there  lay  hid  a 
latent  force,  while  a  quaint  originality  in  his  expressions 
gave  much  point  and  a  peculiar  strength  to  his  conver- 
sation and  public  addresses.  One  of  his  associates,  Rev. 
Dr.  C.  C.  Baldwin,  from  whose  appreciation  of  Mr. 

[405]. 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

Woodin  many  of  the  above  traits  are  taken,  writes  of 
him  in  the  Missionary  Herald:  "This  dear  brother  will 
be  sadly  missed  from  the  work,  for  his  place  cannot  be 
easily  filled  at  once.  He  seemed  full  of  love  to  Christ 
and  his  cause.  His  varied  graces  have  left  their  impress 
both  on  Christian  and  heathen,  for  his  influence  has 
been  widely  felt.  His  spirit  of  benevolence  and  help- 
fulness has  always  been  in  lively  exercise,  and  has  en- 
deared him  to  many  in  their  time  of  need.  His  public 
addresses  made  their  mark  on  many  minds,  rising  not 
rarely  to  heights  of  eloquence  which  invited  the  atten- 
tion alike  of  missionaries  and  natives,  and  bringing  di- 
rectly to  view  the  truth  impressed  and  the  glowing  love 
of  the  speaker." 

Mr.  Woodin  married  at  Concord,  New  Hampshire, 
August  10,  1859,  Sarah  Lee  Utley,  daughter  of  Rev. 
Samuel  and  Mary  Jane  (Eastman)  Utley  and  grand- 
daughter of  Samuel  and  Sally  (Knowlton)  Utley  and 
of  Robert  and  Sarah  (Lee)  Eastman,  and  a  descend- 
ant of  Captain  Ebenezer  Eastman.  She  survives  him, 
with  two  sons  and  three  daughters.  Of  the  seven  chil- 
dren born  to  them  the  living  are:  Edwin  B.  Woodin, 
who  was  graduated  from  Amherst  College  in  1885,  and 
is  a  shoe  merchant;  Herbert  P.  Woodin,  Amherst  1888, 
and  Yale  Divinity  School  1893,  who  is  now  pastor  of 
the  High  Street  Congregational  Church,  Auburn, 
Maine;  Mary  E.  Woodin,  a  teacher  in  the  Western 
College  for  Women  at  Oxford,  Ohio;  Gertrude  Lee 
Woodin,  in  the  Bureau  of  Education,  Washington,  D. 
C. ;  Mrs.  Grace  Van  Allen,  Carthage,  New  York.  The 
daughters  are  all  graduates  of  Wellesley  College. 

Ray  Palmer  Woodin,  who  was  graduated  here  in 
1898,  is  a  nephew. 

Besides  various  letters  published  in  the  Missionary 
Herald,  Mr.  Woodin  published  portions  of  the  Bible 
and  other  translations  in  the  Foochow  colloquial, 

[406] 


Biographical  Sketches 

among  which  may  be  mentioned  "The  Christian  Daily 
Spiritual  Food,"  and  "Western  Arithmetic  for  Begin- 
ners." Some  months  before  his  death  he  wrote  at  Ame- 
nia  for  the  Missionary  Herald  an  article  entitled  "The 
Vegetarian  Sect  and  recent  War  Scare  in  China." 


CLASS  OF  1857 

LYSANDEK  TOWEE  BURBANK  was  born  in  Fitz- 
william,  New  Hampshire,  November  24,  1828.  His 
father  was  John  Burbank,  son  of  John  and  Elizabeth 
(Woodbury)  Burbank;  and  his  mother  Hannah, 
daughter  of  David  and  Lydia  (Burbank)  Lyon.  On 
his  mother's  side  he  was  descended  from  William  Lyon, 
who  sailed  from  London,  England,  September  11, 
1635,  and  settled  in  Roxbury,  Massachusetts.  The 
Lyon  family  has  been  distinguished  for  patriotism, 
bravery,  and  piety.  A  large  number  of  this  family  and 
name  were  in  the  War  of  the  Revolution,  among  them 
being  David  Lyon,  grandfather  of  the  subject  of  this 
sketch.  John  Burbank,  the  father,  was  a  farmer  by 
occupation,  and  is  spoken  of  as  a  good  business  man, 
an  earnest  Christian,  and  a  man  of  great  benevolence. 

Lysander  Tower  Burbank  had  to  contend  with  ad- 
verse circumstances  in  obtaining  his  preparation  for 
college,  teaching  school  and  working  on  the  farm  in 
order  to  defray  his  expenses.  He  studied  in  different 
academies  for  a  time,  beginning  the  study  of  Latin  in 
Brattleboro,  Vermont,  and  completing  his  preparatory 
studies  at  Kimball  Union  Academy,  Meriden,  New 
Hampshire.  He  entered  Williams  as  a  Freshman  in 
1853,  when  he  was  twenty-five  years  of  age.  Among 
his  classmates  were  Henry  Mills  Alden,  Simeon  How- 
ard Calhoun,  Edward  Swift  Isham,  and  Samuel  Hub- 
bard  Scudder.  Burbank  is  remembered  by  classmates 
as  thoroughly  upright,  earnestly  independent,  and  of 

[407] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

an  inquiring  mind.  He  seems  to  have  been  particu- 
larly interested  in  the  subject  of  political  economy  and 
to  have  enjoyed  discussing  with  the  professor  Free 
Trade  and  kindred  topics.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
Philotechnian  Society  and  of  the  Mills  Theological 
Society. 

After  graduation  from  college  he  entered  Union 
Theological  Seminary,  where  he  took  a  high  rank  as  a 
scholar  and  where  he  was  graduated  in  1860.  In  May 
of  the  same  year  he  was  ordained  in  his  home  church 
at  Fitzwilliam,  New  Hampshire.  On  the  3d  of  July 
following,  he,  with  his  wife,  sailed  on  the  barque  Smyr- 
niote  for  Smyrna,  as  a  missionary  of  the  American 
Board,  reaching  Smyrna  after  a  voyage  of  fifty-two 
days.  This  is  said  to  have  been  the  last  party  of  mis- 
sionaries that  was  sent  out  on  a  sailing  vessel.  From 
Smyrna,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Burbank  proceeded  by  steamer 
to  Constantinople,  and  thence  to  Trebizond  and  thence 
by  pack  saddles,  through  Erzroom  to  Bitlis,  a  city  of 
Kurdistan,  about  325  miles  southeast  of  Trebizond. 
He  reached  Bitlis  October  13.  This  was  the  center  of 
Mr.  Burbank's  missionary  operations  for  ten  years, 
during  which  time  he  was  busy  in  organizing  schools, 
establishing  churches,  and  in  other  ways  taking  his  part 
in  furthering  the  wonderful  reformation  which  was  go- 
ing forward  in  Turkey  during  that  interesting  period. 

By  his  tours  he  made  thorough  explorations  of  the 
regions  lying  within  convenient  reach  of  his  station  and 
made  interesting  observations  on  the  condition  and 
needs  of  the  people  whom  he  saw.  In  the  autumn  of 
1861  he  made  a  tour  over  the  country  north  and  west 
of  Lake  Van,  through  the  extensive  and  fertile  plain 
called  Boolanuk,  and  from  thence  to  Khanoos,  Erz- 
room, and  the  city  of  .Van.  The  following  extract  is 
from  his  letter  describing  the  Boolanuk  district:  "This 
district  is  separated  from  Lake  Van  by  a  low,  narrow 

[408] 


Biographical  Sketches 

range  of  hills,  which  rises  at  its  southern  extremity  into 
a  high  mountain  peak,  called  Lipan.  On  the  north  are 
visible  the  high  mountains  of  Erzroom;  on  the  north- 
east, the  snowy  peaks  of  Ararat.  Through  it  runs  the 
east  branch  of  the  Euphrates,  passing  through  a  gap 
in  the  mountains  into  Moosh  plain.  This  is  an  exceed- 
ingly interesting  region  for  the  naturalist  and  historian, 
but  its  geology  and  history  must  not  divert  our  atten- 
tion from  its  present  inhabitants  and  their  religious 
wants.  It  is  about  fifteen  hours  from  Bitlis — or  fifty 
miles;  a  day's  ride  in  length,  and  half  that  in  breadth; 
and  is  by  far  the  most  fertile  plain  in  this  part  of  Tur- 
key, Moosh  not  excepted.  It  sustains  a  large  popula- 
tion. The  villages  are  large  and  near  each  other. 
There  are  twenty  Armenian  villages  in  the  plain,  each 
having  from  fifty  to  three  hundred  houses,  giving  an 
average  of  ninety  to  each,  and  a  total  Armenian  popu- 
lation of  12,000.  To  this  must  be  added  the  Armeni- 
ans on  the  north  and  west  shores  of  the  lake,  about 
4000  in  number,  beside  the  large  number  of  Turks  and 
Kurds.  Thus  we  see  how  thickly  populated  the  coun- 
try is."  In  many  places,  Mr.  Burbank  found  the  peo- 
ple ready,  and  even  desirous,  for  a  missionary.  He 
recognized  the  importance  of  the  location  of  Van  and 
repeatedly  called  the  attention  of  the  Board  to  the  de- 
sirableness of  establishing  a  station  there.  It  was 
probably  owing  not  a  little  to  these  representations  that 
the  Board  decided  to  open  a  station  there  in  1871,  Dr. 
George  C.  Raynolds  (Williams  1861)  being  one  of 
those  sent  to  begin  the  work. 

In  1870  Mr.  Burbank  returned  to  this  country  and 
became  pastor  for  ten  years  (1870-80)  of  the  First 
Congregational  Church  of  Herndon,  Virginia ;  pastor 
for  a  time  of  Presbyterian  churches  in  Burr  Oak  and 
Georgetown,  Nebraska;  and  stated  supply  at  Gandy, 
Dorp  Valley,  and  Garfield,  Nebraska.  From  1893 

[409] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

till  1896  he  was  without  charge  in  Denver,  Colorado; 
and  1896-97  he  was  pastor  emeritus  in  Byers,  Colorado. 
In  1897-99  he  was  pastor  of  an  Armenian  Presbyterian 
church  in  Fresno,  California,  which  he  himself  had  or- 
ganized; and  for  a  time  did  evangelistic  work  in  Salem, 
Oregon.  In  Georgetown  he  did  duty  both  as  mission- 
ary and  physician.  He  also  did  religious  work  in  San 
Francisco. 

Mr.  Burbank  spent  the  last  years  of  his  life  at  the 
home  of  a  daughter  in  Hanford,  California,  where  he 
died  May  12,  1912,  83  years  of  age.  Mrs.  Burbank  and 
five  children  survive  him. 

He  married  May  16,  1860,  in  New  York,  Miss 
Sarah  Susanna  Van  Vleck,  daughter  of  Abram  and 
Catharine  Van  Vleck,  and  granddaughter  of  Truman 
and  Susanna  Bartholomew  of  New  York. 

There  were  born  to  them  eight  children,  of  whom 
the  five  living  are  Frank  Van  Vleck  Burbank,  a  mer- 
chant in  Red  Cliff,  Colorado;  Mrs.  Mary  Susannah 
Montgomery,  Alliance,  Nebraska;  Mrs.  Hannah  Kath- 
erine  Pressey,  Tuckerville,  Nebraska;  Abraham  Julian 
Burbank,  a  chiropodist,  Roseville,  California;  Mrs. 
Agnes  J.  Eca  da  Silva,  Hanford,  California.  Mr.  da 
Silva  is  a  Bachelor  of  Music  from  the  Conservatory  of 
Milan,  Italy. 

Besides  the  degrees  received  in  course  from  his  col- 
lege and  theological  seminary,  Dr.  Burbank  held  the 
degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine. 


CLASS  OF  1858 

JAMES  McKiNNEY  ALEXANDER,  born  at  Waioli, 
Kauai,  Hawaiian  Islands,  January  29,  1835,  was  the 
son  of  Rev.  William  Patterson  Alexander,  who  stud- 
ied for  a  time  at  Centre  College,  Kentucky,  was  grad- 
uated at  Princeton  Theological  Seminary  in  1830,  and 

[410] 


Biographical  Sketches 

became  a  missionary,  under  the  appointment  of  the 
American  Board,  to  the  Hawaiian  Islands.  With 
Messrs.  Armstrong  and  Parker,  Rev.  W.  P.  Alexan- 
der was  appointed  to  commence  a  new  mission  at  the 
Marquesas  Islands.  On  his  return  from  that  mission 
he  labored  for  nine  years  at  Waioli,  where  he  built  a 
substantial  church  and  where  the  congregation  num- 
bered from  800  to  1000.  The  efforts  which  he,  with  Dr. 
Armstrong,  made  to  establish  a  boarding-school  for 
the  missionaries'  children,  resulted  in  the  founding 
of  the  Punahou  School,  which  subsequently  became 
Oahu  College.  He  later  took  charge  of  the  seminary 
at  Lahainaluna,  which  had  been  established  for  the  spe- 
cial purpose  of  educating  teachers.  In  connection  with 
his  work  as  an  educator,  he  prepared  and  published 
various  books  for  the  Hawaiians.  After  laboring  for 
thirteen  years  at  Lahainaluna  he  became  pastor  of  the 
church  at  Wailuku,  where  he  spent  the  remaining 
twenty-seven  years  of  his  life.  In  1858  he  was  sent  by 
the  mission  to  the  United  States  to  secure  an  endow- 
ment and  a  president  for  Oahu  College,  returning  the 
following  year.  He  was  also  appointed  by  the  mis- 
sion to  commence  a  theological  school,  in  which,  in  addi- 
tion to  his  pastoral  labor,  he  taught  five  days  a  week 
for  eleven  years.  In  1869  he  resigned  the  pastorate  in 
order  to  give  more  time  to  the  theological  school,  con- 
tinuing to  preach,  however,  and  to  assist  in  the  pastoral 
work  of  the  churches.  General  S.  C.  Armstrong 
(Williams  1862),  speaking  of  his  work,  said:  "He 
sowed  seed,  the  fruition  of  which  spread  silently  over 
the  Islands,  the  value  of  which  cannot  be  estimated." 
The  earliest  years  of  the  son  were  spent  at  his  birth- 
place. His  preparatory  studies  were  pursued  under 
Rev.  Daniel  Dole,  at  the  Punahou  School,  where  he  re- 
mained during  the  years  1843-53.  On  December  2, 
1853,  in  company  with  Henry  Munson  Lyman,  who 

[411] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

was  to  be  his  classmate  at  Williams,  he  sailed  on  the 
whaling  vessel  Bartholomew  Gosnold  for  New  Bed- 
ford, Massachusetts.  He  entered  college  as  a  Fresh- 
man in  1854,  having  among  his  classmates  Henry  Hop- 
kins, Horace  Elisha  Scudder,  and  Richard  Halsted 
Ward.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Alpha  Delta  Phi 
Society;  of  the  Mills  Theological  Society,  of  which  he 
was  a  president;  and  of  the  Philologian  Society,  which 
he  represented  in  the  Adelphic  Union  Debate.  He 
was  one  of  the  foremost  scholars  of  his  class,  attaining 
to  Phi  Beta  Kappa  rank,  and  was  one  of  the  speakers 
at  Commencement,  his  appointment  being  the  Mathe- 
matical Oration,  and  the  subject  of  his  address,  "The 
True  Principle  of  Progress." 

After  graduation  he  had  charge  of  the  academy  in 
Spencertown,  New  York,  for  six  months,  and  spent  the 
spring  and  summer  in  the  West,  where  he  suffered  in 
health  from  the  intense  heat  and  poisonous  climate. 
The  year  1859-60  was  spent  in  Union  Theological 
Seminary,  during  which  time  he  attended  some  medi- 
cal lectures  and  also  engaged  in  city  missionary  work. 
Subsequently  he  did  missionary  work  in  Vermont,  and 
in  1861  he  returned  by  the  way  of  Cape  Horn  to  the 
Hawaiian  Islands,  where,  residing  with  his  father  at 
Wailuku,  Maui,  he  alternated  between  sugar  planting 
and  preaching.  In  1864  he  removed  to  California, 
where  he  engaged  in  home  missionary  work,  laboring 
seven  years  in  organizing  churches  and  supplying,  tem- 
porarily, different  pulpits.  He  thus  organized 
churches  at  San  Leandro  and  San  Lorenzo,  in  which 
places  he  was  stated  supply  from  1864  to  1869,  being 
ordained  by  Presbytery  at  San  Jose  June  11,  1865. 
During  the  years  1870-72  he  was  stated  supply  at  Cen- 
treville  and  Alvarado,  -California,  and  at  Carson  City, 
Nevada.  Being  obliged  on  account  of  the  state  of  his 
health  to  give  up  regular  pastoral  work,  he  returned 

[412] 


Biographical  Sketches 

to  Hawaii  in  1872  and  settled  at  Haiku.  Here  he 
engaged  partly  in  the  sugar  business  and  partly  in  mis- 
sionary work,  assisting  in  the  organization  of  the  for- 
eign church  at  Makaomao,  of  the  Hawaiian  churches  at 
Haiku,  and  at  Paia,  Maui,  and  of  a  Chinese  church  in 
the  last  named  place.  For  the  most  of  these  years  he 
was  an  independent  missionary. 

In  1883  he  removed  to  Oakland,  California,  and 
invested  in  a  fruit  farm  in  Tulare  County.  Here  he 
could  indulge  his  special  taste  in  gardening  and  flori- 
culture, of  which  he  had  been  fond  all  his  life.  He  con- 
tinued to  take  an  active  part  in  all  church  work,  being 
an  efficient  worker  in  the  cause  of  temperance,  .and 
in  all  movements  for  civic  and  social  reform. 

In  1896,  in  company  with  his  brother,  S.  T.  Alex- 
ander, he  made  a  tour  of  the  Southern  Pacific,  arriv- 
ing at  Honolulu  in  1897,  and  spending  a  month  in  the 
Islands.  Another  visit  to  his  old  home  and  kindred 
was  made  ten  years  later. 

He  died  in  Oakland,  California,  April  11,  1911. 

The  writer  of  a  memorial  sketch  published  in  the 
Friend  for  May,  1911,  said  of  him:  "Of  his  character 
it  is  difficult  to  speak.  Unselfish,  tender,  considerate, 
always  cheery,  with  a  pleasant  flow  of  wit  and  humor, 
he  carried  sunshine  with  him  everywhere.  His  home 
life  was  ideal.  The  secret  of  it  was  a  profound  reli- 
gious experience  which  pervaded  the  inner  life." 

He  was  married  in  East  Oakland,  California,  on 
January  15,  1867,  to  Miss  Mary  E.  Webster,  who  with 
two  sons  and  two  daughters  survived  him.  The  chil- 
dren are:  Frank  A.  Alexander,  manager  of  the  Mc- 
Bryde  Plantation  on  Kauai;  Dr.  William  Edgar  Alex- 
ander, San  Francisco;  Miss  Mary  Edith  Alexander; 
and  Mrs.  Sarah  E.  Tomlinson,  Oakland. 

Mr.  Alexander  published,  besides  occasional  articles 
for  the  press,  "On  the  Summit  of  the  Crater"  (of 

[413] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

Mokuaweoweo  of  Mt.  Loa,  Hawaii) ;  "The  Islands  of 
the  Pacific";  and  "Mission  Life  in  Hawaii";  the  last 
being  a  memoir  of  his  father,  Rev.  William  P. 
Alexander. 

SAMUEL  RUSSELL  BUTLER  was  born  in  Northamp- 
ton, Massachusetts,  July  21,  1837.  He  was  the  son  of 
Jonathan  Hunt  and  Mary  Ann  (Bowers)  Butler. 
He  fitted  for  college  at  the  L.  J.  Dudley  Classical 
School  in  Northampton,  and  entered  Williams  as  a 
Freshman  in  1854.  In  college  he  was  a  member  of  the 
Philologian  Society,  and  took  a  good  rank  as  a  scholar, 
graduating  with  the  appointment  of  an  Oration.  He 
was  one  of  the  speakers  at  Commencement,  the  subject 
of  his  address  being  "Sentiment  as  an  Element  of 
Character." 

The  year  after  graduation  he  spent  at  Andover 
Theological  Seminary,  after  which  he  taught  for  a  time 
in  the  Preparatory  Department  of  St.  Paul's  College, 
at  Palmyra,  Missouri.  The  years  1862-64  he  spent  in 
Union  Theological  Seminary.  On  account  of  failure 
of  his  health  he  went  to  Labrador  on  an  excursion, 
where  he  became  interested  in  missionary  work.  This 
work  he  continued  until  the  fall  of  1880,  excepting  the 
years  1870-73.  He  was  ordained  in  Montreal,  Can- 
ada, by  the  Canadian  Foreign  Missionary  Society, 
September  10, 1866.  He  was  stated  supply  during  the 
year  1870-71  at  Leeds,  Massachusetts;  during  1872-73, 
at  Hutchinson,  Minnesota;  and  then  for  a  time  at 
Washington,  Maine.  He  gave  up  his  missionary  work 
in  Labrador  on  account  of  the  severity  of  the  climate, 
and  spent  the  winter  of  1880-81  partly  in  the  Sanita- 
rium at  Clifton  Springs,  New  York,  and  partly  in 
Florida.  After  residing  for  a  time  without  charge  in 
Northampton,  Massachusetts,  he  spent  the  year  1883- 
84  in  foreign  travel,  and  on  his  return  to  this  country 

[414] 


Biographical  Sketches 

he  took  charge  of  the  Congregational  Church  in  Mill 
River  (New  Marlboro'),  Massachusetts,  which  with 
one  intermission  he  served  with  great  faithfulness  until 
1893,  when  he  became  too  feeble  to  work.  He  died  of 
exhaustion  at  Clifton  Springs,  New  York,  March  25, 
1893. 

"Few  have  known  how  beautiful  was  his  pure  and 
Christlike  life,  but  many  among  the  poor  and  lonely 
are  saddened  by  his  loss." 


CLASS  OF  1859 

JOHN  THOMAS  GULICK  was  born  in  Waimea, 
Kauai,  Hawaiian  Islands,  March  13,  1832.  He  is  the 
son  of  Rev.  Peter  Johnson  and  Fanny  Hinckley 
(Thomas)  Gulick,  and  grandson  of  John  Gulick,  who 
was  a  farmer  in  Freehold,  New  Jersey.  He  is  de- 
scended, on  the  father's  side,  from  Hendrick  Gulick, 
who  came  to  New  York  from  the  Netherlands  in  1653. 
Rev.  Peter  Johnson  Gulick,  the  father,  was  a  graduate 
of  Princeton  College  and  Seminary,  and  was  a  mis- 
sionary in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  1828-74.  He  died 
in  Japan  in  1877.  The  mother,  who  was  the  daughter 
of  a  farmer  of  Scotch  and  English  ancestry,  was  a  na- 
tive of  Lebanon,  Connecticut.  The  father  is  described 
as  being  strong  and  decisive  in  action,  while  the  mother 
was  reflective,  thoughtful,  and  of  well-poised  character. 
Of  their  eight  children,  six  were  at  the  same  time  in  the 
service  of  the  American  Board, — four  in  Japan  and 
two  in  Spain.  One  brother,  Thomas  Lafon  Gulick, 
missionary  to  Spain,  was  graduated  here  in  1865.  The 
name  of  Gulick  has  been  associated  with  American  mis- 
sions for  more  than  four  score  years. 

John  Thomas  Gulick  pursued  his  preparatory 
studies  at  Punahou  and  in  the  Preparatory  Depart- 
ment of  New  York  University,  where  also  he  took  his 

[415] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

Freshman  year,  entering  Williams  as  a  Sophomore  in 
1856.  In  college  he  was  a  member  of  the  Mills  Theo- 
logical Society  and  of  the  Lyceum  of  Natural  History, 
of  both  of  which  he  was  treasurer  in  his  Junior  year, 
and  in  his  Senior  year  he  was  one  of  the  vice-presidents 
of  the  former  and  one  of  the  presidents  of  the  latter. 
In  his  Senior  year  the  Williams  Quarterly  contained  a 
poem  by  him  entitled,  "The  Mountain  Brood." 

Dr.  Washington  Gladden,  in  a  letter  published  in 
connection  with  the  sketch  of  Dr.  Haskell  has  written 
in  high  praise  of  Mr.  Gulick's  ability  and  character. 

After  graduation,  Mr.  Gulick  studied  theology  at 
Union  Seminary,  1859-61,  and  then  spent  some  time  in 
study,  teaching,  and  travel  on  the  Pacific  Coast.  In 
1862-63,  he  spent  about  eighteen  months  in  Japan,  and 
urged  the  American  Board  to  open  a  mission  in  that 
country.  Failing  in  this  effort,  he  received  an  appoint- 
ment of  the  Board  as  a  missionary  to  China,  and  was 
ordained  in  Canton,  August  22,  1864.  He  sailed  from 
Hong  Kong,  with  his  wife,  for  Tientsin  September  13. 
The  vessel  was  wrecked  on  Pratas  Shoal,  September 
22,  but  the  crew  and  passengers  were  saved  by  a  Chi- 
nese vessel  and  returned  to  Hong  Kong.  From  here 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Gulick  sailed  again,  October  8,  in  a 
steamship,  and  reached  Tientsin,  October  26,  arriving 
at  Peking  on  November  5.  He  first  engaged  in  mis- 
sion work  in  Peking,  1864-65,  but  in  the  latter  year  he 
opened  mission  work  in  Kalgan,  North  China,  where 
he  remained  ten  years.  During  this  period  he  made 
summer  tours  among  the  people  of  the  Mongolian 
Plains,  4000  feet  above  sea  level.  In  1872,  he  made  a 
visit  to  England,  at  which  time  he  met  with  Darwin, 
who  gave  him  great  encouragement  as  to  certain  spe- 
cial investigations  he  .was  making  in  the  subject  o? 
Evolution. 

The  mission  station  opened  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Gu- 

[416] 


Biographical  Sketches 

lick  in  Kalgan  was  the  first  regular  Protestant  work  in 
China  in  any  place  except  near  to  foreign  consuls  or 
ministers.  Their  services  here  consisted  largely  in  out- 
station,  evangelistic,  and  medical  work,  and  involved 
extended  tours  in  the  saddle.  In  1875,  for  reasons  of 
health,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Gulick  removed  to  Kobe,  Japan, 
where  he  remained  until  1882,  when  he  went  to  Osaka, 
where  he  remained  until  1899. 

During  his  residence  in  Osaka,  Mr.  Gulick  was  in- 
terested in  the  introduction  of  the  study  of  English  in 
the  schools  of  Japan,  taking  as  he  did  a  particular  inter- 
est in  the  young.  In  1898,  he  wrote  from  Osaka:  "My 
own  work  is  largely  in  connection  with  the  young  men 
who  are  pressing  into  the  varied  departments  of  busi- 
ness in  this  great  commercial  center.  I  teach  two  hours 
each  morning  in  the  boys'  school,  which  has  been  an  im- 
portant medium  of  Christian  influence  during  the  past 
ten  years." 

For  many  years  Mr.  Gulick  had  been  interested  in 
the  subject  of  natural  history,  particularly  in  the  prob- 
lem connected  with  the  origin  and  distribution  of  spe- 
cies. As  early  as  1872  he  had  published  the  results  of 
his  investigations  in  Nature  and  in  the  Linnsean  So- 
ciety's Journal  of  Zoology.  The  article  in  the  latter 
Journal  was  brought  before  the  Linnsean  Society  by 
Mr.  Wallace.  Meeting  Darwin  in  England  about  this 
time,  Mr.  Gulick  was  led  to  make  'a  more  extensive 
study  of  the  factors  of  evolution  and  from  time  to  time 
published  various  papers  on  the  subject.  Certain  let- 
ters published  in  Nature  led  to  a  correspondence  with 
G.  T.  Romanes,  who,  in  his  volume,  "Darwin  and  after 
Darwin,"  makes  frequent  references  to  Gulick's  pa- 
pers, characterizing  them  as  "of  higher  value  than  any 
other  work  in  the  field  of  Darwinian  thought  since  the 
date  of  Darwin's  death."  In  1888  he  again  visited 
England  and  at  that  time  made  the  personal  acquaint- 

[417] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

ance  of  Romanes,  who  had  previously  acknowledged 
the  great  influence  upon  his  own  thinking  of  the  views 
of  Gulick.  In  the  following  year  he  met  Professor  Hy- 
att, of  the  Boston  Society  of  Natural  History,  who 
took  the  greatest  interest  in  Gulick's  collection  of  land 
shells,  which  had  been  gathered  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands 
in  1851-52.  It  was  through  the  influence  of  Professor 
Hyatt  that  a  collection  of  these  shells  was  obtained  for 
the  Museum  of  the  Boston  Society  of  Natural  History. 

Owing  to  his  great  interest  and  success  in  scientific 
investigations,  Mr.  Gulick  retired  from  the  services 
of  the  Board  in  1899,  and  from  that  date  till  1905  re- 
sided in  Oberlin,  Ohio,  engaged  in  literary  work.  After 
a  short  time  spent  at  Oakland,  California,  he  returned 
to  Honolulu,  where  he  still  resides. 

Mr.  Gulick  received  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts 
from  Williams  College  in  1889,  of  Doctor  of  Philosophy 
from  Adelbert  College  in  the  same  year,  and  of  Doctor 
of  Science  from  Oberlin  College  in  1905.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  American  Oriental  Society,  of  the  American 
Society  of  Zoology,  of  the  New  York  Lyceum  of  Nat- 
ural History,  of  the  Boston  Natural  History  Society, 
and  a  life  member  of  the  American  Economic 
Association. 

Mr.  Gulick  married  at  Hong  Kong,  China,  Septem- 
ber 3,  1864,  Emily  De  La  Cour,  of  Rochester,  Eng- 
land, who  died  in  Kobe,  Japan,  December  17,  1875. 
He  was  again  married  at  Osaka,  Japan,  May  31,  1880, 
to  Frances  Amelia  Stevens,  who  was  educated  at  Ober- 
lin College,  a  daughter  of  Rev.  William  Riley  Stevens 
(Williams  1841),  and  Louisa  F.  (Cook)  Stevens,  and 
granddaughter  of  William  Stevens,  and  of  Noah  Cook, 
who  was  a  prominent  citizen  of  Williamstown,  Massa- 
chusetts. Rev.  William  Riley  Stevens  was  very  tall, 
being  6  feet  and  7  inches  in  stature. 

There  were  born  to  Mr.  Gulick  two  children,  a  son 

[418] 


Biographical  Sketches 

and  a  daughter.  The  son,  Addison  Gulick,  who  is  a 
professor  in  the  University  of  Minnesota,  was  grad- 
uated from  Oberlin  College  in  1904,  and  received  the 
degree  of  Doctor  of  Philosophy  at  the  University  of 
Wiirtzburg,  Germany,  in  1910;  the  daughter,  Miss 
Louise  Gulick,  after  graduating  at  Oberlin  College, 
pursued  a  course  of  medical  study  at  Johns  Hopkins 
University. 

Dr.  Gulick  published  "The  Diversity  of  Evolution 
under  One  Set  of  External  Conditions"  (1872)  ;  "Di- 
vergent Evolution  through  Cumulative  Segregation" 
(1887);  "Intensive  Segregation"  (1889,  in  the  Lin- 
na3an  Society's  Journal  of  Zoology,  Vols.  XI,  XX,  and 
XXIII)  ;  "Divergent  Evolution  and  the  Darwinian 
Theory";  "The  Inconsistencies  of  Utilitarianism"; 
"The  Preservation  and  Accumulation  of  Cross  Infer- 
tility" (in  American  Journal  of  Science,  January, 
July,  and  December,  1890)  ;  and  "Description  of  New 
Species  of  Land  Mollusks  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands,"  in 
the  Proceedings  of  the  New  York  Lyceum  of  Natural 
History.  He  also  published  five  letters  in  Nature, 
Vols.  XLI,  XLII,  XLIV  and  LV.  After  1900,  while 
residing  at  Oberlin,  he  brought  together  for  publication 
in  a  single  volume  his  writings  on  the  factors  of  organic 
evolution.  In  1905,  he  brought  out  a  book  entitled, 
"Evolution,  Racial  and  Habitudinal,"  and  published  by 
the  Carnegie  Institution  of  Washington. 

HENRY  CHARLES  HASKELL,  son  of  William  and 
Abigail  (Clark)  Haskell,  was  born  at  Anson,  Somerset 
County,  Maine,  December  28,  1835.  He  was  de- 
scended from  William  Haskell  and  William  Clark,  who 
settled,  the  one  in  Gloucester,  in  1632,  and  the  other 
in  Northampton,  Massachusetts,  in  1630.  The  ances- 
tor, Lieutenant  William  Clark,  was  called  "one  of  the 
seven  pillars  of  the  Church."  The  father  of  the  subject 

[419] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

of  our  sketch  was  a  lawyer  by  profession.  The  son  was 
reared  in  a  home  where  the  influences  were  excellent. 
He  was  fitted  for  college  partly  at  Oberlin,  Ohio,  but 
mainly  at  the  academy  in  Hinsdale,  Massachusetts.  He 
entered  college  in  1855  and  became  a  prominent 
member  of  his  class,  taking  part  in  several  of  the  stu- 
dent "activities"  of  the  time.  At  the  end  of  the  Sopho- 
more year  he  and  four  others  were  members  of  the  "Old 
Bones  Club"  expedition  to  the  White  Mountains.  At 
the  Junior  Exhibition  he  had  one  of  the  English  ora- 
tions. He  was  a  member  of  the  Anti-Secret  Confed- 
eration. In  Senior  year  he  was  one  of  the  presidents  of 
the  Philologian  Society  and  also  of  the  Mills  Theologi- 
cal Society.  He  was  also  one  of  the  contributors  to  the 
Williams  Quarterly.  On  graduation  he  had  for  an  ap- 
pointment the  Philosophical  Oration,  which,  of  course, 
placed  him  high  among  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  men.  The 
subject  of  his  oration  was  "Destructive  Forces." 

After  graduation,  he  studied  theology  at  Andover 
Seminary,  from  which  he  was  graduated  in  1862.  He 
was  ordained  at  South  Deerfield,  Massachusetts,  Au- 
gust 13,  1862,  and  under  appointment  as  a  missionary 
of  the  American  Board  he  sailed  from  New  York  Oc- 
tober 4,  1862,  for  Western  Turkey,  arriving  on  Decem- 
ber 13,  at  Sofia, — the  station  to  be  occupied  in  the 
Bulgarian  field.  After  a  few  months,  by  advice  of  the 
Committee  of  the  mission,  Mr.  Haskell  removed  to  Phil- 
ippopolis,  to  assist  and  relieve  Mr.  Clark.  In  his  letters 
he  writes  of  the  advance  of  the  work  among  the  Bulga- 
rians, and  in  particular  of  the  boys'  school  at  Philippop- 
olis  and  of  the  girls'  school  at  Eski  Zaghra.  In  1871 
Mr.  Haskell  removed  to  the  latter  place  to  assist  Mr. 
Bond,  and  in  the  following  year  he  and  Mrs.  Haskell 
returned  to  this  country,  and  in  1874,  finding  them- 
selves unable  to  return  to  Turkey,  they  reluctantly 
asked  and  received  a  release  from  connection  with  the 

[420] 


Biographical  Sketches 

Board.  For  family  reasons  they  were  detained  in  this 
country  for  fourteen  years,  and  during  this  time  he  held 
pastorates  in  Ohio:  at  Huntington  1873-75;  High 
Street  Church,  Columbus,  1875-77;  North  Amherst 
1877-81;  Harmar  1881-87.  On  October  8,  1887,  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Haskell  sailed  from  New  York  to  rejoin  the 
European  Turkey  Mission,  arriving  at  Samokov,  Bul- 
garia, November  5.  The  Missionary  Herald  of  1888 
contains  an  article  by  Mr.  Haskell  on  "Bulgaria — 
Some  Contrasts  of  Twenty-five  Years."  In  the  article 
he  treats  of  the  political  changes,  the  growth  of  mission 
schools,  the  development  of  Christian  literature,  and  of 
stations  and  churches.  Under  the  last  head  he  has  this 
to  say:  "When  we  first  came  to  the  work  we  found  mis- 
sionaries stationed  at  Philippopolis,  Eski  Zaghra,  and 
Sofia,  using  the  Bulgarian  language.  For  over  five 
years  we  were  but  four  missionary  families  at  these 
three  stations.  No  place  was  occupied  as  out-station. 
No  church  was  formed  for  some  eight  years  after  we 
came;  and  at  the  time  of  our  coming  no  real  follower 
was  known  in  all  our  field."  Then,  speaking  of  some 
changes  in  stations  and  noting  that  the  three  central 
stations  were  Samokov,  Philippopolis,  and  Monastir, 
he  continues:  "Aside  from  these  central  stations,  regu- 
lar preaching  services,  weekly,  fortnightly,  or  monthly, 
are  held  in  some  twenty-six  out-stations;  in  some  of 
which  the  audiences  and  the  church  members  far  out- 
number those  at  the  station.  For  example,  the  church 
here  in  Samokov  has  fifty-two  resident  members,  and 
an  average  congregation  of  169;  while  the  church  in 
Bansko  has  154  members  and  an  average  audience  of 
240.  The  church  at  Philippopolis  had  last  year  less 
than  forty  members  and  an  average  congregation  of 
160;  while  that  in  Yamboul  had  fifty-one  members,  with 
audiences  of  140.  In  the  three  stations  and  their  out- 
stations  there  are  eight  organized  churches,  with  three 

[421] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

or  four  more  soon  to  be  formed;  sixteen  Bulgarian 
preachers  in  service,  five  of  them  ordained;  thirteen 
church  buildings,  a  church  membership  of  about  600, 
and  a  regular  congregation  numbering  over  1600." 

Subsequent  letters  speak  of  the  revival  at  Samokov 
and  Philippopolis,  of  a  church  dedication  and  Confer- 
ence at  the  latter  place,  of  the  self-support  of  the 
church  there. 

An  interesting  event  in  the  life  of  Mr.  Haskell  was 
the  celebration  of  his  seventieth  birthday  on  December 
28,  1905,  when  he  received  congratulations  from  all  the 
missionaries  and  evangelical  pastors  and  preachers 
within  the  field  of  the  Board  in  Bulgaria,  as  well  as 
from  friends  in  America  and  elsewhere.  A  reception 
was  held  and  addresses  made  by  Bulgarian  pastors  in 
the  parlors  of  the  church  at  Philippopolis,  where  was 
also  presented  a  formal  address  of  congratulation, 
signed  by  Pastor  Sitchanoff  and  fifty  others.  The  fol- 
lowing extract  from  that  letter  shows  somewhat  of  the 
importance  and  extent  of  the  work  done  by  Mr.  Has- 
kell in  Bulgaria:  "As  Bulgarians  and  evangelical 
Christians  we  deeply  value  your  untiring  efforts  for  the 
spiritual  enlightenment  of  our  whole  mission.  Espe- 
cially we  in  Philippopolis  wish  on  this  occasion  to  ex- 
press our  whole-souled  thankfulness  for  the  spiritual 
and  earnest  sermons  which  you  have  preached  from 
time  to  time  during  your  stay  among  us.  Through  your 
discourses,  through  your  rich  knowledge  and  great 
Christian  experience,  and  lastly  through  the  personal 
influence  of  your  consecrated  life,  you  have  given  us  a 
strong  impulse  to  a  higher  Christian  life,  and  thus  have 
gained  the  love  and  profound  respect  of  us  all." 

Besides  the  period  already  referred  to,  Dr.  and  Mrs. 
Haskell  visited  this  cpuntry  in  1898.  Returning  to 
their  field  in  1899,  they  labored  on  till  1911,  when  they 
finally  returned  to  this  country  and  made  their  home  in 

[422] 


Biographical  Sketches 

Oberlin,  where  Dr.  Haskell  died  March  29,  1914.  Just 
after  the  death  of  Dr.  Haskell,  Rev.  Joseph  K.  Greene 
wrote  of  him:  "Love  to  God  and  love  to  man  con- 
strained him  to  be  a  missionary. 

"He  was  scrupulously  faithful  in  his  work.  He 
mastered  the  Bulgarian  language  and  acquainted  him- 
self with  Bulgarian  life  and  thought  and  history.  He 
sympathized  with  the  Bulgarians  in  their  sufferings, 
rejoiced  in  their  liberty,  and  shared  in  their  aspirations. 

"He  was  most  happy  in  his  relations  with  his  fel- 
low-missionaries. Firm  in  his  own  convictions  and 
frank  in  the  expression  of  them,  he  was  withal  most 
kind,  courteous,  and  considerate.  His  superior  abili- 
ties, sane  judgment,  choice  language,  and  gentle  man- 
ners made  him  a  most  valuable  member  of  the  mission. 

"Dr.  Haskell  was  preeminently  a  man  of  prayer. 
He  walked  with  God,  and  was  a  living  apostle  of  Christ 
to  all  who  knew  him.  It  was  the  man  behind  the  mis- 
sionary which  attracted,  enlightened,  persuaded,  and, 
by  the  grace  of  God,  converted  men." 

Mr.  Haskell  married  at  South  Deerfield,  Massa- 
chusetts, August  13,  1862,  Margaret  H.  Bell,  daugh- 
ter of  Franklin  and  Minerva  Bell,  granddaughter  of 
Samuel  and  Olive  (Lindsey)  Bell  and  of  Joshua  and 
Mercy  (Lyon)  Crowell.  Of  this  marriage  three  chil- 
dren were  born,  all  of  whom  are  living:  Rev.  Edward 
Bell  Haskell,  a  missionary  in  Salonica,  Turkey;  Mary 
Minerva  Haskell,  missionary  in  Samokov,  Bulgaria; 
and  Henry  Joseph  Haskell,  editor  of  the  Kansas  City 
Star,  Kansas  City,  Missouri. 

Mr.  Haskell  received  the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor 
of  Divinity  from  Marietta  College  in  1888. 

Besides  various  communications  which  have  ap- 
peared in  the  Missionary  Herald,  Dr.  Haskell  has  pub- 
lished (in  Bulgarian)  "Tracts  on  Traditions  and 
Spiritism." 

[428J 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

The  following  letter  from  Dr.  Gladden  concerning 
his  three  missionary  classmates  may  fittingly  find  a 
place  here. 
Pastor's  Study, 

First  Congregational  Church. 

Columbus,  Ohio,  June  22,  1911. 
Dear  Professor  Hewitt: 

Henry  Haskell  and  Henry  Schauffler  were  both  in- 
timate friends  of  mine  in  college.  They  were  men  of 
excellent  character  and  high  purpose,  with  the  calling 
to  which  their  lives  was  afterwards  given  always  in  full 
view.  Both  were  members,  of  course,  of  the  Mills 
Theological  and  Missionary  Society,  which  held  its 
meetings  Sunday  evenings  in  the  Old  Chapel,  and  both 
were  leaders  in  the  Christian  work  of  the  college,  al- 
ways at  the  noon  prayer  meetings  and  at  the  class 
prayer  meetings.  Both  were  excellent  scholars;  they 
had  parts  in  the  Junior  Exhibition,  and  both  took 
honors:  Schauffler  was  Salutatorian  and  Haskell  had 
the  Philosophical  Oration.  That,  I  should  think,  made 
them  second  and  third  in  rank,  in  the  class.  Haskell 
was,  I  think,  the  younger  of  the  two. 

Those  were  the  days  of  the  simple  life  in  Williams, 
and  these  men  both  lived  very  frugally;  it  was  not  pos- 
sible for  them  to  indulge  very  freely  in  any  kind  of  lux- 
ury. Both  of  them  were  members  of  the  "Anti-Secret 
Confederation"  which  then  was  flourishing,  and  of 
which  Garfield  had  been  a  leading  member.  I  am  sure 
that  they  enjoyed  the  entire  confidence  of  their  class- 
mates and  of  the  whole  college. 

With  Schauffler  I  had  more  to  do  because  he  was 
fond  of  music,  in  which  I  was  much  interested;  but  my 
faith  in  Henry  Haskell  was  very  strong,  and  it  is 
to-day. 

You  must  not  forget  John  T.  Gulick,  another  class- 
mate, who  was  also  a  fine,  strong  character.  JHe  was 

[424] 


Biographical  Sketches 

not  so  good  a  linguist;  his  preparation  for  college  had 
been  defective,  but  he  came  out  strong  in  natural  sci- 
ence and  in  philosophy.  Dr.  Hopkins  always  mani- 
fested high  respect  for  his  opinion.  He  also  was  a  man 
of  unblemished  character;  a  clean,  honorable,  high- 
minded  man.  I  am  not  at  all  ashamed  of  my  three  mis- 
sionary classmates.  Dr.  Parsons  can  give  you,  doubt- 
less, many  illuminating  incidents  of  their  college  lives. 

Very  truly  yours, 
WASHINGTON  GLADDEN. 

HENRY  ALBERT  SCHAUFFLER,  son  of  Rev.  Dr.  Wil- 
liam Gottlieb  and  Mary  (Reynolds)  Schauffler,  was 
born  in  Constantinople,  Turkey,  September  4,  1837. 
He  was  the  grandson  of  Philipp  F.  and  Karolina  H. 
(Schuckardt)  Schauffler,  and  of  Samuel  and  Lucy 
(Pitkin)  Reynolds.  One  of  the  more  distinguished  an- 
cestors on  the  mother's  side  was  Captain  Thomas  Pit- 
kin  of  Lexington  fame.  The  father  was  a  man  of  most 
rare  qualities,  both  as  a  missionary  and  a  translator. 
He  was  born  in  Stuttgart,  Germany.  At  the  age  of 
six  he  went  with  his  father,  who  led  a  colony  of  Ger- 
mans to  Odessa,  Russia.  He  was  taught  the  rudiments 
of  reading,  writing,  and  arithmetic  by  his  father's  clerk, 
while  he  learned  by  himself  various  languages,  ancient 
and  modern.  At  the  age  of  fourteen  he  worked  at  his 
father's  trade,  the  turning-lathe.  Subsequently  pro- 
fessing his  faith  in  Christ,  he  became  interested  in  for- 
eign missions.  Visiting  Smyrna,  he  met  there  Rev. 
Jonas  King  (Williams  1816),  who  persuaded  him  to  go 
to  America  for  an  education.  He  spent  five  years  in 
Andover  Seminary,  studying  often  fourteen  and  six- 
teen hours  a  day.  Concerning  his  studies,  he  wrote: 
"Aside  from  the  study  of  Greek  and  Hebrew,  and  gen- 
eral classical  reading,  I  studied  the  Chaldee,  Syriac, 
Arabic,  Samaritan,  Rabinic,  Hebrew- German,  Persian, 

[425] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

Turkish,  and  Spanish;  and,  in  order  to  be  somewhat 
prepared  for  going  to  Africa,  I  extracted  and  wrote  out 
pretty  fully  the  Ethiopic  and  Coptic  grammars."  Be- 
ing ordained  as  a  missionary  of  the  American  Board 
to  the  Jews,  he  studied  Arabic  and  Persian  with 
De  Sacy,  and  Turkish  with  Kieffer  in  Paris,  and  then 
went  to  Constantinople,  where  he  preached  in  German, 
Spanish,  Turkish,  and  English.  For  the  Jews  in  Con- 
stantinople, he  translated  the  Bible  into  Hebrew-Span- 
ish. Besides  being  a  translator  he  was  an  earnest 
evangelical  preacher,  and  under  the  title  of  "Medita- 
tions on  the  Last  Days  of  Christ,"  he  published  a  series 
of  discourses  which  he  had  delivered  in  Constantinople. 
He  was  appointed  to  lay  before  the  Evangelical  Alli- 
ance, to  meet  in  Paris,  the  "great  question  of  religious 
liberty  in  Turkey,  including  the  Mohammedans."  Af- 
ter the  Crimean  War  he  entered  the  mission  among  the 
Turks.  He  was  deputed  by  the  mission  to  present,  in 
America  and  England,  the  claims  of  the  new  mission 
to  the  Turks.  When  it  was  decided  to  have  the  Arme- 
nian Mission  cover  the  whole  field  in  Turkey,  Dr. 
SchaufBer  resigned  as  a  missionary  of  the  Board  and 
devoted  himself  to  Bible  translations.  His  great  work 
was  the  translation  of  the  Bible  into  Osmarili-Turkish. 
He  published  an  ancient  Spanish  version  of  the  Old 
Testament,  a  translation  of  the  Psalms  into  Spanish, 
a  grammar  of  the  Hebrew  language  into  Spanish,  a 
Hebrew-Spanish  Lexicon  of  the  Bible,  and  contributed 
articles  in  Spanish  to  a  missionary  Journal  in  Salonica. 
He  was  "able  to  speak  ten  languages,  and  read  as  many 
more."  In  recognition  of  his  rare  scholarship,  the  Uni- 
versities of  Halle  and  Wittenberg  conferred  upon  him 
the  degrees  of  D.  D.  and  Ph.  D.,  respectively,  and 
Princeton  the  degree,  of  LL.  D.  He  spent  the  final 
years  of  his  life  with  his  two  youngest  sons  in  New 
York,  where  he  died  in  1883,  at  the  age  of  85,  having 

[426] 


Biographical  Sketches 

been  in  active  missionary  service  nearly  half  a  century. 
He  was  the  founder  of  a  family  which  has  become  dis- 
tinguished in  the  annals  of  missionary  life.  Four  of  his 
sons  were  graduated  at  this  college — 1859,  1862,  1865, 
and  1867,  respectively. 

Henry  Albert  Schauffler,  the  subject  of  this  sketch, 
spent  his  boyhood  in  Constantinople,  where  he  became 
a  Christian  at  an  early  age,  and  where,  during  the 
Crimean  War,  he  undertook  his  first  Christian  work. 
This  work  was  the  distribution  by  himself  and  three 
brothers  of  Testaments  among  the  soldiers  of  the 
French  army,  10,000  of  whom  were  encamped  five  miles 
from  his  home. 

In  these  early  years  he  enjoyed  rare  opportunities 
for  obtaining  a  good  general  training  in  the  knowledge 
of  books  and  language  and  in  manual  labor.  He  be- 
came an  expert  swimmer  and  a  skillful  carpenter,  and 
could  draw  and  paint  well.  He  was  a  good  singer  and 
at  an  early  age  was  taught  by  his  father  to  play  the 
flute.  At  this  time,  too,  he  laid  the  foundation  for  his 
linguistic  skill,  learning  not  only  Turkish,  but  German, 
French,  and  Greek.  Subsequently,  he  obtained  a 
knowledge  of  Italian,  Spanish,  Latin,  Hebrew,  and 
Bohemian. 

At  an  early  age  he  was  trained  in  the  art  of  self 
help.  He  earned  money  by  drawing  war  pictures  for 
the  London  Illustrated  News,  and  when  coming  to 
America  he  paid  his  way  to  London  by  acting  as  inter- 
preter on  one  of  the  vessels  which  carried  prisoners  of 
war. 

He  prepared  for  college  at  home  and  entered  his 
class  at  Williams  at  the  beginning  of  Freshman  year. 
The  class  had  a  large  number  of  members  who  attained 
distinction  in  life.  Fourteen  of  its  members  were  of 
Phi  Beta  Kappa  rank;  three  became  foreign  mission- 
aries. Among  the  members  of  the  class  were  S.  G.  W. 

[427] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

Benjamin,  Titus  Munson  Coan,  Charles  Hall  Everest, 
Washington  Gladden,  John  Thomas  Gulick,  Henry 
Charles  Haskell,  Ranald  Slidell  Mackenzie,  and  Eben 
Burt  Parsons. 

In  college,  Schauffler  was  one  of  the  leaders  among 
the  young  men.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Philologian 
Society,  of  which  he  was  one  of  the  secretaries;  was 
President  of  the  Mills  Theological  Society;  and  secre- 
tary of  the  Art  Association.  He  interested  himself  in 
those  who  were  left  out  of  the  Secret  Societies  and  was 
influential  in  organizing  an  Anti- Secret  Confederation. 
He  contributed  several  articles  to  the  Williams  Quar- 
terly, and  was  the  author  of  two  college  songs.  He 
ranked  among  the  very  foremost  scholars  of  his  class, 
having  the  Latin  Salutatory  Oration  at  the  Junior  Ex- 
hibition, and  the  Salutatory  Oration  at  Commencement. 
After  graduation,  he  studied  theology  at  Andover, 
and  during  his  seminary  course  he  taught  French  and 
German.  He  then  studied  law  at  Harvard,  in  order  to 
prepare  himself  for  a  professorship  in  Robert  College. 
For  three  years  he  was  a  teacher  in  Robert  College,  and 
June  2,  1865,  was  ordained  a  missionary  of  the  Ameri- 
can Board  to  Western  Turkey,  having  Constantinople 
as  the  center  of  his  labors.  Compelled  by  his  own  ill 
health  and  that  of  two  of  his  children  to  return  to 
America  in  1870,  he  did  efficient  work  in  visiting  col- 
leges and  seminaries  as  a  representative  of  missionary 
interests.  When  it  was  decided  by  the  American  Board 
to  undertake  the  work  of  evangelization  in  Papal 
Lands,  Mr.  Schauffler  was  appointed  to  inaugurate  the 
new  mission  in  Austria.  He  went  there  with  his  fam- 
ily in  the  spring  of  1872,  and  in  October  of  that  year 
he  took  up  his  residence  at  Prague,  where  he  was  soon 
joined  by  Messrs.  Clark  and  Adams  with  their  fam- 
ilies. Two  years  later  he  removed  to  Briinn,  in  Mora- 
via, where  he  spent  the  next  seven  years.  These  were 

[428] 


Biographical  Sketches 

years  of  hard  patient  labor,  where  progress  was  re- 
ported from  year  to  year,  though  often  in  the  face  of 
varied  opposition.  The  spirit  of  courage  and  hopeful- 
ness with  which  he  labored  on,  is  shown  in  the  follow- 
ing extract  from  a  letter  written  in  1878:  "In  secur- 
ing from  the  Government  the  right  to  open  a  Christian 
bookstore  and  circulating  library,  the  work  has  made 
an  encouraging  advance,  promising  in  the  future  im- 
portant results.  We  have  put  in  circulation  a  large 
number  of  books  and  tracts,  some  of  which  will  cer- 
tainly bear  fruit  to  the  glory  of  God.  If  the  first  hope- 
ful convert  of  the  Mahratta  mission  was  awakened  by 
the  receiving  of  a  tract;  if  the  church  at  Marsovan 
sprang  from  a  tract  bought  in  Beirut  eighteen  years 
before;  if  similar  messengers  of  truth  could  secure 
such  wonderful  results  in  the  Japanese  prison  at  Otsu; 
may  we  not  hope,  and  should  we  not  earnestly  pray, 
for  God's  blessing  upon  these  silent  preachers  of  truth 
now  in  many  Austrian  families,  where  the  living 
preacher  would  not  be  admitted?  The  work  of  the 
Board  in  this  empire  will  at  length,  with  the  divine 
blessing,  be  crowned  with  most  gratifying  results;  but 
not  without  earnest  consecration,  self-denying  work, 
and  the  united  prayers  of  those  here  who  love  the  truth, 
and  of  those  at  home  who  walk  by  faith  and  not  by 
sight." 

The  ill  health  of  Mrs.  Schauffler,  caused  to  a  great 
extent  by  the  hardships  and  persecutions  she  had  en- 
dured in  Briinn,  led  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Schauffler  to  come 
to  America  in  the  spring  of  1881.  His  purpose  to  re- 
turn soon  to  Austria  was  frustrated  by  the  providence 
of  God  which  opened  to  him  a  work,  in  some  respects, 
even  more  important  than  that  in  which  he  had  been  a 
pioneer  in  Austria.  Americans  as  well  as  Bohemians 
had  come  to  realize  the  needs  of  the  250,000  Bohemi- 
ans in  this  country  who  were  without  religious  leader- 

[429] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

ship  and  not  brought  into  touch  with  the  religious  life 
of  America.  At  the  invitation  of  Rev.  Charles  Terry 
Collins  of  Cleveland,  Ohio,  who  had  interested  himself 
in  the  large  Bohemian  population  of  that  city,  Mr. 
Schauffler  visited  Cleveland,  and  was  so  impressed 
with  the  needs  of  the  field  that  he  accepted  the  call  to 
undertake  the  Bohemian  work  in  that  city.  The  work, 
at  first  supported  by  individuals,  was  in  the  fall  of  1883 
adopted  by  the  Congregational  churches  of  Cleveland, 
financial  help  being  also  received  from  the  American 
Home  Missionary  Society. 

By  the  appointment  of  the  Congregational  churches 
of  Cleveland  Mr.  Schauffler  became  City  Missionary, 
while  by  the  appointment  of  the  Congregational  Home 
Missionary  Society,  he  was  made  superintendent  of 
their  work  among  all  the  Slavic  peoples  of  the  United 
States.  The  death  of  Rev.  Mr.  Collins  imposed  on  Mr. 
Schauffler  the  additional  duty  of  keeping  up  the  inter- 
est in  the  Bohemian  church  Mr.  Collins  had  awakened. 
The  success  of  Mr.  Schauffler's  work  is  attested  by 
the  three  Bohemian  churches  and  one  Polish  church 
in  that  city,  by  one  English  church  made  up  chiefly 
of  Bohemians,  and  by  the  training  school  for 
women  workers,  the  building  for  whom  and  the 
money  for  its  running  expenses,  were  secured  by  his 
efforts. 

The  work  among  the  50,000  Bohemians  in  Chicago 
was  largely  due  to  Mr.  Schauffler's  interest  in  that 
people,  while  his  vision  of  the  needs  of  the  work  he  was 
doing  led  to  the  establishment  of  the  training  school  for 
Slavic  evangelists  and  preachers  in  connection  with 
Oberlin  Theological  Seminary. 

He  was  nearing  the  completion  of  forty  years  of 
intelligent  and  devoted  service,  sixteen  years  in  Tur- 
key and  Austria,  and  nearly  twenty-four  in  connection 
with  the  Congregational  Home  Missionary  Society, 

[430] 


Biographical  Sketches 

when  he  was  called  to  his  rich  reward  and  to  a  higher 
service.  He  died  in  Cleveland,  February  15,  1905. 

At  his  funeral  the  church  was  crowded  by  Bohe- 
mians of  all  classes  and  Americans  who  had  known  him 
as  a  sincere  friend,  and  had  come  to  know  him  as  a  most 
devoted  servant  of  God. 

Those  who  knew  him  most  intimately  speak  of  his 
absolute  devotion  to  duty  and  his  absolute  faith  in  God 
as  his  most  striking  characteristics.  He  was  always 
the  advocate  of  the  highest  ideals,  and  along  with  su- 
perior intellectual  powers  were  combined  an  energy 
and  a  persistency  of  nature  which  brought  things  to 
pass. 

Rev.  Dr.  E.  A.  Adams  writes  of  him  in  the  Home 
Missionary:  "Of  Dr.  Schauffler  as  a  friend  and  com- 
panion one  would  love  to  write  much.  No  sacrifice 
was  too  great  if  a  friend  was  to  be  helped.  Master  of 
at  least  five  languages  and  able  to  make  himself  under- 
stood in  several  more,  inheriting  a  love  of  music  that 
might  easily  have  become  a  passion,  quick  at  repartee, 
seeing  always  the  bright  side,  he  was  the  life  of  any 
social  circle  of  which  he  formed  a  part.  But  he  was 
always  and  everywhere,  with  all  his  talents,  with  all  his 
wit,  a  man  of  God,  subordinating  everything  to  the 
service  of  Him  whom  now  face  to  face  he  sees." 

The  following  extract  is  from  the  obituary 
notice  which  appeared  in  the  Missionary  Her- 
ald for  1905:  "Comparatively  few  appreciate  the 
great  value  of  the  work  accomplished  by  Dr.  Schauf- 
fler in  behalf  of  the  Slavs  in  this  country,  in  connection 
with  the  Congregational  Home  Missionary  Society. 
His  knowledge  of  their  language  and  of  the  country 
from  which  they  came,  and  his  great  love  for  this  peo- 
ple, combined  with  his  energy  and  wisdom  in  organiza- 
tion, made  him  a  great  power  for  good.  In  him  home 
and  foreign  missions  have  been  combined  in  a  most 

[431] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

striking  way.  It  is  possible  that  he  reached  more  Bo- 
hemians in  his  oversight  of  various  congregations  in  the 
United  States  than  he  could  have  done  had  he  re- 
mained in  Briinn,  a  city  toward  which  his  thoughts  al- 
ways turned  with  strong  affection.  We  shall  greatly 
miss  his  genial  presence  and  his  effective  utterances  in 
behalf  of  Christian  work  both  at  home  and  abroad." 

The  Sehauffler  Missionary  Training  School  in 
Cleveland  is  a  worthy  and  fitting ,  memorial  of  the  man, 
and  an  institution  that  is  perpetuating  his  beneficent 
influence. 

A  sketch  of  Dr.  Schauffler's  life  by  his  son,  Rev. 
Henry  Park  Schauffler,  and  a  Commemorative  Address 
by  his  daughter,  Mrs.  Benjamin  W.  Labaree,  have 
been  recently  published. 

Dr.  Schauffler  received  from  his  Alma  Mater  the 
degree  of  Master  of  Arts  in  course,  and  the  honorary 
degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity  in  1890. 

He  married  on  November  25,  1862,  at  Springfield, 
Massachusetts,  Clara  G.,  daughter  of  James  H.  and 
Rachel  (Capen)  Gray,  granddaughter  of  Harrison 
and  Clarissa  (Eastham)  Gray  and  of  Theophilus  and 
Miranda  (Colton)  Capen,  and  a  descendant  of  John 
Drake,  who  came  from  England  to  Windsor,  Connect- 
icut, in  1635,  and  of  Stephen  Hopkins,  who  came  over 
on  the  Mayflower  in  1620.  She  died  September  3, 
1883. 

He  next  married  on  July  28,  1892,  Clara,  daughter 
of  Donley  Hobart  of  Cleveland,  Ohio. 

By  his  first  marriage  he  had  six  sons  and  two  daugh- 
ters, of  whom  all  but  one  son  who  died  in  infancy,  are 
living:  Dr.  William  Gray  Schauffler,  Lakewood,  New 
Jersey;  Charles  Edward  Schauffler,, in  business  in  Chi- 
cago; Mary  Alice,  who  married  Rev.  Benjamin  W. 
Labaree,  a  missionary;  Rev.  Henry  Park  Schauffler, 
a  minister  in  New  York;  Frederick  Herrick  Schauf- 

[432] 


Biographical  Sketches 

fler,  in  business  in  New  York;  Rachel  Capen 
Schauffler,  teacher  and  author,  Lakewood,  New  Jer- 
sey; Robert  Haven  Schauffler,  author,  Greenbush, 
Massachusetts. 

By  his  second  marriage  he  had  one  son  and  two 
daughters,  Lawrence,  Grace,  and  Margaret  Schauf- 
fler, who  live  in  Oberlin,  Ohio. 

A  letter  from  Rev.  Dr.  Washington  Gladden  con- 
cerning his  three  missionary  classmates  is  printed  in 
connection  with  the  sketch  of  Henry  C.  Haskell. 


CLASS  OF  1860 

WILLIAM  WILBERFORCE  CHAPIN,  son  of  Oliver 
Chapin,  was  born  at  Somers,  Connecticut,  December 
2,  1836.  The  father  was  a  graduate  of  Williams  in 
the  class  of  1805,  and  was  for  one  year  (1807-08)  a 
tutor  here.  He  studied  medicine  but  never  practised 
this  profession.  He  became  a  farmer  in  his  native 
town,  where  he  held  various  positions  of  trust  and  was 
greatly  respected.  For  many  years  he  was  town  clerk 
and  treasurer,  and  justice  of  the  peace.  He  was  one 
of  the  principal  supporters  of  the  Congregational 
church,  of  which  he  was  a  member.  He  is  described 
as  "a  lover  of  good  men,  and  the  friend  and  patron  of 
all  good  enterprises." 

The  son  was  converted  at  the  age  of  seventeen,  in 
1854,  and  united  with  the  Congregational  Church  of 
Somers  in  November  of  that  year.  He  fitted  for  col- 
lege at  Munson  Academy  and  at  Andover  and  entered 
college  as  a  Freshman  in  1856.  Among  his  classmates 
were  James  Madison  Barker,  James  Carruthers  Green- 
ough,  James  Has  well  Harwood,  George  Boswell 
Leavitt,  Edward  William  Morley.  His  college  life 
was  marked  by  his  conscientious  devotion  to  duty  and 
by  the  fidelity  and  assiduity  with  which  he  applied  him- 

[433] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

self  to  all  the  studies  of  the  curriculum.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  Delta  Upsilon  Fraternity,  and  of  the 
Lyceum  of  Natural  History.  He  graduated  with  Phi 
Beta  Kappa  rank,  and  at  Commencement  had  the  as- 
signment of  the  Natural  History  Oration.  He  was  a 
member  of  Dr.  Chadbourne's  Expedition  to  Labrador 
in  1860. 

He  studied  theology  at  Andover  Theological  Sem- 
inary where  he  was  graduated  in  1863.  During  the 
middle  year  of  his  seminary  course  he  decided  to  de- 
vote himself  to  the  work  of  missions.  He  was  ordained 
at  Somers,  Connecticut,  September  24,  1863,  and  two 
days  later,  September  26,  was  married  at  Derry,  New 
Hampshire,  to  Miss  Katharine  Isabella  Hayes.  He 
sailed  from  Boston,  under  the  appointment  of  the 
American  Board,  for  India  January  7,  1864,  arriving 
at  Bombay  May  19,  and  at  Ahmednagar  June  4. 
From  January  1,  1865,  he  was  stationed  at  Pimplus, 
and  on  March  22  of  that  year,  after  having  been  in  In- 
dia only  ten  months,  he  died  of  diphtheria  at  Ahmed- 
nagar. His  sickness  was  brief — of  less  than  a  week's 
duration.  His  last  hours  were  free  from  pain,  and 
illumined  by  the  Savior's  presence.  After  sending  mes- 
sages to  his  relatives  and  friends,  to  the  missionary  cir- 
cle and  native  Christians,  and  the  students  of  Andover 
Seminary,  he  remarked:  "The  mansions  are  prepared, 
the  door  is  open,  they  are  waiting  for  me."  Pointing 
up,  with  his  arm  at  full  length,  he  said,  "There  is  Jesus, 
I  want  to  praise  Him";  and  again,  "Jesus  has  a  crown 
for  me,  I  want  to  take  it."  His  grave  is  near  to  that 
of  William  Hervey  (Williams  1824),  who  died  of 
cholera  in  May,  1832,  and  whose  services  as  missionary 
lasted  but  little  more  than  a  year.  Mr.  Chapin  was 
the  youngest  member  of  the  mission  and  was  of  great 
promise. 

Rev.   Allen  Hazen,   D.D.,   wrote   of  him:     "Mr. 

[434] 


Biographical  Sketches 

Chapin  had  made  a  fine  commencement  of  his  work. 
He  had  preached  several  times  with  great  acceptance. 
He  loved  the  work  of  preparation  for  preaching.  He 
was  always  busy  and  earnest  in  his  studies,  and  in  all 
his  preparation  for  future  service.  Among  his  dying 
words,  in  one  of  his  messages,  he  said,  'I  do  not  regret 
coming  to  India,'  and  we  would  never  say,  or  think, 
this  is  a  *  waste.'  To  the  seminary  students  at  Andover 
he  sent  this  message:  'Tell  them  all  to  cultivate  a  mis- 
sionary spirit,  and  to  send  some  one  to  take  my  place; 
for  the  messenger  has  come  to  take  me  home.'  Who 
will  hear  this  call?"  , 

Mr.  Barker,  his  predecessor  at  Pimplus,  wrote  from 
Bombay,  to  which  place  he  had  come  to  embark  for 
America:  "Mr.  Chapin  seemed  to  me  admirably  fit- 
ted for  the  missionary  work,  by  natural  gift  and  by  ed- 
ucation. His  progress  in  the  language  was  almost 
without  a  parallel,  and  although  he  had  been  in  the 
country  less  than  a  year,  he  had  already  begun  to 
preach.  He  was  my  associate  in  Pimplus  for  a  few 
weeks,  and  I  had  a  good  opportunity  to  see  how  fa- 
vorable an  impression  he  made,  both  upon  the  na- 
tive Christians  and  the  heathen,  by  his  cheerfulness, 
gentleness,  and  winning  ways.  They  felt  sure  that 
he  loved  them,  and  his  talents  commanded  their 
respect." 

SAMUEL  HENRY  KELLOGG,  son  of  Rev.  Samuel  and 
Mary  Price  (Henry)  Kellogg,  was  born  September  6, 
1839,  at  Quogue,  Long  Island.  The  family,  with  all 
others  bearing  the  name  in  the  United  States,  is  said  to 
be  sprung  from  three  Kellogg  brothers  who  came  from 
Scotland  to  New  England  in  1640.  Some  of  the  an- 
cestors on  the  mother's  side  (named  Lockwood)  were 
officers  in  the  Revolutionary  War.  From  1640  on 
many  of  the  Kelloggs  have  been  ministers  or  deacons. 

[435] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

The  father  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  a  Presby- 
terian minister. 

The  son  united  with  the  Presbyterian  Church  of 
Hampstead,  New  York,  at  the  age  of  thirteen.  Ex- 
cept for  six  months'  study  at  the  Haverstraw  Moun- 
tain Institute,  New  York,  he  obtained  his  preparation 
for  college  with  his  parents  at  home.  He  entered 
Williams  in  1856,  but  on  account  of  ill  health  he  re- 
mained but  one  year.  At  Williams  he  was  a  member 
of  the  Kappa  Alpha  Fraternity.  Two  years  later  he 
entered  Princeton  College,  where  he  was  graduated  in 
1861.  He  then  entered  the  Theological  Seminary  at 
Princeton,  where  he  took  the  full  three  years'  course, 
graduating  in  1864.  During  his  Senior  year  in  the 
seminary  he  acted  as  tutor  of  mathematics  in  the  uni- 
versity. His  decision  to  adopt  foreign  mission  work 
he  attributed  to  a  sermon  which  he  heard  from  Dr. 
Henry  M.  Scudder,  in  the  First  Presbyterian  Church 
in  Princeton.  He  was  licensed  by  the  Presbytery  of 
Hudson  April  21,  1863,  and  ordained  as  an  evangelist 
by  the  same  Presbytery  April  20,  1864.  His  plans  to 
embark  for  India  were  delayed  owing  to  the  Civil  War, 
but  finally  he  and  his  wife  took  passage  in  a  merchant 
vessel  from  Boston  to  Ceylon.  On  the  third  day  out 
the  ship  was  struck  by  a  cyclone,  in  which  the  captain 
lost  his  life  and  the  ship  was  barely  saved  from  founder- 
ing. This  disaster  was  followed  by  a  plot  formed  by 
the  crew  to  get  rid  of  the  new  commander,  who  had 
proved  to  be  perfectly  incompetent.  It  being  found 
out  that  Mr.  Kellogg  had  studied  navigation,  he  was 
asked  by  the  new  captain  to  take  the  place  of  the  mate 
in  directing  the  vessel.  He  accordingly  acted  as 
navigator  until  they  reached  Ceylon,  148  days  from 
Boston. 

He  was  first  placed  in  charge  of  all  the  work  at  the 
Barhpur  Mission,  where  his  first  experience  was  hard, 

[436] 


Biographical  Sketches 

but  the  necessities  of  the  position  gave  him  an  early 
command  of  the  language,  so  that  within  six  months 
he  was  able  to  take  his  turn  in  the  Sabbath  Urdu  serv- 
ice in  the  native  church.  For  a  time  he  taught  in  the 
Anglo- Vernacular  High  School  of  Futtehgurh  and  did 
evangelistic  work,  including  the  instruction  of  the  na- 
tive preachers.  About  1870  he  began  the  important 
work  of  preparing  a  Hindi  Grammar.  On  account  of 
the  reputation  gained  in  this  work  he  obtained  a  place 
in  the  Congress  of  Oriental  Scholars  held  in  Stock- 
holm, in  1889,  under  the  presidency  of  King  Oscar  II. 
The  grammar  was  prescribed  as  an  authority  to  be  stud- 
ied by  all  candidates  for  the  India  civil  service.  On 
April  1,  1871,  he  returned  to  America,  where  he  spent 
six  months  in  the  interests  of  the  Foreign  Board.  On 
his  return  to  India,  in  1872,  he  was  appointed  by  the 
Synod  of  India  as  professor  in  the  theological  semi- 
nary recently  established  at  Allahabad.  Owing  to  the 
death  of  his  wife  in  1876,  he  returned  to  this  country 
with  his  four  motherless  children.  In  this  year  he  be- 
came the  stated  supply  of  the  Third  Presbyterian 
Church  in  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania,  and  was  installed 
its  pastor  July  5,  1877.  In  the  fall  of  this  year  he  ac- 
cepted a  call  to  the  chair  of  systematic  theology  in 
the  Western  Theological  Seminary,  Allegheny,  Penn- 
sylvania. He  held  this  position  until  1886.  During 
the  year  1881-82  he  was  also  stated  supply  of  East 
Liberty  Church,  Pittsburgh,  and  of  the  First  Church, 
Pittsburgh,  during  the  years  1884-86.  In  this  latter 
year  he  accepted  a  call  from  St.  James'  Square  Presby- 
terian Church  of  Toronto,  Canada,  where  he  labored 
with  eminent  success  until  September  7,  1892.  For  a 
time  in  this  last  year  he  occupied  the  chair  of  Hebrew 
and  Old  Testament  exegesis  in  Knox  Divinity  College, 
Toronto.  In  1893  he  returned  again  to  India,  this  time 
to  engage  in  the  retranslation  of  the  Old  Testament 

[437] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

from  the  Hebrew  into  Hindi,  under  the  auspices  of  the 
British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society,  having  his  head- 
quarters at  Landour. 

Dr.  Kellogg,  while  in  this  country  and  in  Canada, 
both  as  pastor  and  as  professor,  exerted  a  strong  influ- 
ence in  leading  young  men  to  enter  the  foreign  mis- 
sionary service.  He  is  said  to  have  had  part  in  train- 
ing thirty-eight  missionaries  for  the  foreign  field.  He 
was  suddenly  killed  by  a  fall  from  his  bicycle,  on  May 
2,  1899,  near  his  home  in  Landour.  He  died  in  the 
60th  year  of  his  age.  In  accordance  with  a  desire 
which  Dr.  Kellogg  had  frequently  expressed  that  no 
eulogy  should  be  spoken  over  his  grave,  the  only  ad- 
dress at  his  funeral  was  a  brief  one  in  Hindustani  by 
Dr.  Hooper,  who  had  been  his  associate  for  over  six 
years  in  the  revision  of  the  Old  Testament. 

Dr.  Kellogg  possessed,  in  an  unusual  degree,  that 
quality  which  is  so  important  in  the  life  of  a  mission- 
ary, versatility  of  genius.  He  had  superior  gifts  as  a 
preacher,  teacher,  and  lecturer.  It  was  said  of  him 
that  he  could  also  take  a  photograph,  prescribe  a  po- 
tion, or  steer  a  ship.  While  his  varied  knowledge  made 
him  a  brilliant  conversationalist,  his  knowledge  was  not 
superficial,  but  thorough  and  accurate.  Along  with  a 
scholarship  which  was  varied  and  thorough,  he  pos- 
sessed a  superior  ability  in  imparting  to  others  the  ideas 
which  he  had  even  in  subjects  that  were  profound.  He 
was  especially  eminent  as  a  student  of  the  Bible,  which 
he  had  studied  with  an  ardent  love,  and  into  the  mean- 
ing of  which  he  had  acquired  a  phenomenal  insight. 
With  all  his  varied  gifts  and  accomplishments,  he  was 
simple  and  unostentatious  in  his  personal  character, 
and  faithful  in  his  friendships.  Possessed  as  he  was  of 
great  brain  power  and  of  a  mind  that  moved  in  a  logical, 
orderly  way,  he  was  preeminently  a  teacher  and  theo- 
logian, while  he  was  also  distinguished  as  a  linguist,  a 

[438] 


Biographical  Sketches 

powerful  preacher,  a  successful  missionary,  a  versatile 
and  vigorous  writer. 

He  received  from  Princeton  University  the  hon- 
orary degree  of  Master  of  Arts  in  1864,  and  of  Doc- 
tor of  Divinity  in  1877,  and  the  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Laws  from  Wooster  University  in  1892.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  American  Oriental  Society,  of  the  In- 
ternational Congress  of  Orientalists  at  Stockholm 
in  1889,  and  of  the  same  at  London  in  1891.  In  1891 
he  delivered  the  Stone  Lectures  in  Princeton  Theo- 
logical Seminary. 

He  was  married  May  3,  1864,  in  Montrose,  Penn- 
sylvania, to  Miss  Antoinette  Whiting  Hartwell,  daugh- 
ter of  Philander  R.  and  Louisa  (Slawson)  Hartwell. 
She  died  March  4,  1876. 

He  next  married  May  20,  1879,  in  Pittsburgh, 
Miss  Sara  Constance  Macrum,  daughter  of  James  M. 
and  Hephzibah  (Wallis)  Macrum,  and  a  descendant  of 
Scotch-Irish  and  English  people  who  came  from  Ire- 
land and  Scotland  to  the  United  States.  She  is  still 
living  and  resides  in  Philadelphia. 

Of  ten  children  born  to  Dr.  Kellogg,  a  son  and  two 
daughters  by  the  first  wrife,  and  two  sons  and  two 
daughters  by  the  second  are  still  living.  Two  little 
children  by  the  first  marriage  died  in  India.  A  son 
also,  Alfred  Hartwell  Kellogg,  born  April  26,  1867, 
a  graduate  of  Wooster  University  in  1888,  died  in 
1890.  The  surviving  children  are:  Mrs.  George  Inglis, 
Hamilton,  Ontario,  Canada;  Frederic  Sherlock  Kel- 
logg, M.D.  (Princeton  1893),  Pittsburgh;  Mrs.  Olin 
S.  Fellows,  Middletown,  New  York;  Rev.  Edwin 
Henry  Kellogg  (Princeton  1902),  Carlisle,  Pennsyl- 
vania; Mrs.  John  B.  Kelso,  Wooster,  Ohio;  Robert 
Wallis  Kellogg,  Carlisle,  Pennsylvania;  Amy  Con- 
stance Kellogg. 

Dr.  Kellogg  published  "A  Grammar  of  the  Hindi 

[439] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

Language"  (1876),  an  enlarged  and  revised  edition  of 
which  appeared  in  1893;  "The  Jews:  or  Prediction  and 
Fulfilment"  (1883);  "From  Death  to  Resurrection" 
(1885);  "The  Light  of  Asia  and  the  Light  of  the 
World"  (1885)  ;  "The  Book  of  Leviticus,"  in  the  Ex- 
positors' Bible  series  (1891)  ;  "The  Genesis  and  Growth 
of  Religion"  (1892),  being  the  Stone  Lectures  deliv- 
ered at  Princeton  Seminary  that  year;  "Are  Premil- 
lennialists  Right?";  "A  Handbook  of  Comparative  Re- 
ligion." He  also  published  essays  in  the  Hindustani  in 
magazines  printed  in  that  language  at  Allahabad;  be- 
sides which  he  published  in  English  numerous  essays 
in  the  Princeton  Review,  Missionary  Review,  Catholic 
Presbyterian  (Edinburgh),  Friend  of  India  (Cal- 
cutta) ,  and  other  religious  periodicals.  Since  his  death 
there  has  been  published  a  volume  of  his  sermons  with 
the  title,  "The  Past,  a  Prophecy  of  the  Future."  This 
volume  has  been  most  favorably  noticed  by  prominent 
reviewers  on  both  sides  of  the  water.  Other  sermons 
and  theological  lectures  left  by  Dr.  Kellogg  will  prob- 
ably be  published  at  some  later  date. 


CLASS  OF  1861 

CHAUNCEY  GOODRICH,  the  third  of  six  sons  of 
Elijah  Hubbard  and  Mary  Northrop  (Washburn) 
Goodrich,  was  born  in  Hinsdale,  Massachusetts,  June 
4,  1836.  His  grandparents  were  Elijah  Hubbard  and 
Mabel  (Nicholson)  Goodrich,  and  Abraham  and 
Olive  (Wright)  Washburn. 

The  name  Goodrich  is  Saxon,  being  originally 
Godric,  from  which  have  arisen  numerous  forms  of 
spelling  the  word.  The  tribe  or  family  of  the  name 
evidently  existed  at  a.very  early  period  in  Great  Brit- 
ain. One  of  the  earliest  evidences  of  the  existence  of 
the  family,  it  is  believed,  is  found  in  the  ruins  of  Good- 

[440] 


Biographical  Sketches 

rich  Castle,  which  is  situated  in  Herefordshire,  Wales, 
on  the  east  bank  of  the  Wye,  and  which  probably  dates 
from  a  time  anterior  to  the  Conquest.  The  name, 
Goodrich  is  often  mentioned  in  English  history  and 
usually  in  honorable  connection.  The  first  emigrant 
of  this  name  to  come  to  New  England  probably  left 
the  mother  country  to  escape  from  the  civil  and  reli- 
gious agitation  which  preceded  the  war  between 
Charles  I  and  the  Parliament  of  England.  Before 
1650,  there  were  at  least  five  original  settlers  of  this 
name  in  New  England.  These,  with  the  dates  of  their 
arrival,  were :  William  Goodrich  of  Watertown,  Massa- 
chusetts, 1636;  John  Goodrich  of  Watertown,  1642; 
Richard  Goodrich  of  Guilford,  Connecticut,  1639; 
John  Goodrich  of  Wethersfield,  Connecticut,  and  his 
brother  William,  who  were  born  in  England,  probably 
in  or  near  Bury  St.  Edmonds,  County  Suffolk,  and 
who  came  to  America  in  1643.  John  Goodrich  died 
in  Wethersfield,  April,  1680,  and  his  widow  married 
Lieutenant  Thomas  Tracy  of  Norwich,  Connecticut, 
the  emigrant  ancestor  of  the  Tracy  family.  William 
was  the  ancestor  of  nearly  all  of  the  name  of  Goodrich 
in  America. 

Many  of  that  name  have  become  distinguished  in 
the  history  of  the  nation.  Of  such  the  following  may  be 
named :  Charles  Goodrich,  one  of  the  first  settlers 
of  the  town  of  Pittsfield,  Massachusetts,  was  a 
member  of  the  Provincial  Congress  in  1774,  fought 
at  the  battle  of  Bennington,  Vermont,  and  was  always 
prominent  in  public  life ;  Caleb  Goodrich,  also  of 
Pittsfield,  also  served  in  the  Revolutionary  War,  hav- 
ing command  of  a  body  of  men  at  Fort  Ann  in 
June,  1777,  and  was  present  at  the  surrender  of  Bur- 
goyne's  army;  Rev.  Elizur  Goodrich,  a  graduate  of 
Yale  in  the  class  of  1752,  a  tutor  there  in  1755,  and 
subsequently  a  member  of  the  corporation,  was  distin- 

[441] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

guished  as  a  scholar,  teacher,  and  preacher;  Michael 
Goodrich,  of  Sharon,  Connecticut,  as  a  soldier  in  the 
War  of  the  Revolution,  was  in  the  engagement  at  Dan- 
bury,  Connecticut,  and  was  present  at  the  surrender  of 
Burgoyne  at  Saratoga;  Josiah  Goodrich,  born  at 
Rocky  Hill,  Connecticut,  served  under  Commodore 
Perry  in  his  campaign  on  Lake  Erie,  and  for  his  brav- 
ery received  a  silver  medal  from  the  State  of  Pennsyl- 
vania; Chauncey  Goodrich,  a  graduate  of  Yale  in  1779 
and  a  tutor  there,  subsequently  became  an  eminent  law- 
yer in  Hartford,  Connecticut,  served  six  years  in  Con- 
gress, was  Mayor  of  Hartford,  and  Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor  of  Connecticut,  and  a  delegate  to  the  celebrated 
Hartford  Convention;  James  Goodrich,  born  in  Han- 
cock, Massachusetts,  served  as  an  officer  in  the  War 
of  1812,  being  for  three  months  under  command  of 
General  William  Henry  Harrison  at  Lake  George, 
afterwards  settling  in  Tioga  County,  Pennsylvania,  he 
held  there  various  offices;  John  Goodrich,  who  was 
born  in  Middlebury,  Vermont,  and  settled  in  Cayuga 
County,  New  York,  enlisted  in  the  War  of  1812,  under 
General  Winfield  Scott,  was  in  fourteen  battles,  and 
went  through  the  war,  a  most  efficient  soldier;  Alfred 
Russell  Goodrich,  born  in  Gill,  Massachusetts,  settled 
in  Vernon,  Connecticut,  became  eminent  as  physician, 
as  merchant  and  manufacturer,  held  many  public  of- 
fices and  was  distinguished  for  his  scientific  tastes  and 
attainments;  Grant  Goodrich,  born  in  Milton,  New 
York,  removed  to  Chicago  where  he  became  eminent  as 
a  lawyer,  being  for  several  years  one  of  the  Judges  of 
the  Superior  Court,  was  active  in  promoting  the  ma- 
terial, moral  and  religious  interests  of  Chicago,  and 
was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Northwestern  Univer- 
sity and  the  Garrett  Biblical  Institute  at  Evanston; 
Chauncey  A.  Goodrich,  a  graduate  of  Yale  in  1810,  a 
tutor  there  for  two  years,  and  from  1817  until  his 

[442] 


Biographical  Sketches 

death,  a  professor  in  the  College  or  Theological  Semi- 
nary, the  author  of  various  books;  Samuel  Griswold 
Goodrich,  born  in  Ridgefield,  Connecticut,  August  19, 
1793,  became  the  author,  known  in  literature  as  "Peter 
Parley,"  of  whom  Mr.  Rufus  W.  Griswold  wrote,  "All 
of  Mr.  Goodrich's  productions  inculcate  pure  morality 
and  cheerful  views  of  life."  These  were  among  the 
ancestors  or  closely  related  to  the  ancestors  of  the  sub- 
ject of  our  sketch. 

The  father  of  Chauncey  Goodrich,  who  was  a 
farmer,  and  a  class  leader  in  the  Methodist  church, 
lived  to  an  advanced  age.  His  marked  characteristics 
were  absolute  integrity,  Puritan  firmness  and  simplic- 
ity, and  earnest  faith.  He  is  also  spoken  of  as  a  ready 
speaker  and  possessed  of  mechanical  skill.  Owing  to 
the  influence  of  the  mother's  example  and  her  pious 
training,  the  son  became  the  subject  of  religious  im- 
pressions in  early  childhood,  dating  his  conversion  at 
the  age  of  ten,  in  the  time  of  a  great  revival  in  his  native 
town.  It  was  soon  after  this  that  he  formed  the  plan 
of  becoming  a  minister. 

His  preparatory  studies  were  pursued  at  the  Hins- 
dale  Academy,  Hinsdale,  Massachusetts,  and  the 
Union  High  School  in  Burlington,  Vermont.  His 
choice  of  a  college  was  made,  in  part,  probably,  by  the 
influence  of  Professor  Lincoln,  who  was  at  one  time 
principal  of  the  Academy  at  Hinsdale  and  who  became 
Professor  of  Latin  at  Williams  in  1853.  He  entered 
college  as  Freshman  at  the  age  of  twenty-one.  He 
made  his  decision  to  become  a  missionary  in  his  Sopho- 
more year,  being  influenced  by  an  address  of  Dr. 
William  Schauffler  who  visited  the  college  at  that  time. 

The  college  programs  of  the  period  show  that 
he  was  one  of  the  prominent  members  of  his  class.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  Philologian  Society,  of  which  he 
was  for  a  time  vice-president ;  was  also  a  vice-president 

[443] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

of  the  Reading-Room  Association;  was  a  member  of 
the  Committee  on  Songs  for  the  Biennial  Jubilee;  and 
of  the  Senior  Quartette.  He  belonged  to  the  Delta 
Upsilon  Fraternity.  He  was  also  among  the  foremost 
scholars  of  his  class,  having  the  Latin  Oration  at 
Junior  Exhibition,  and  graduating  with  Phi  Beta 
Kappa  rank.  At  Commencement  he  had  the  Mission- 
ary Oration,  his  subject  being  "A  Single  Aim." 

After  graduation  he  entered  Union  Theological 
Seminary,  where  he  spent  one  year,  completing  his 
course  at  Andover.  He  was  ordained  at  Hinsdale, 
September  21,  1864,  and  on  January  21,  with  his  wife, 
sailed  from  New  York  for  Shanghai  to  join  the  North 
China  Mission.  He  arrived  at  Shanghai  July  22, 
1865,  and  Peking,  September  13,  of  the  same  year. 
He  acquired  the  Chinese  language  with  great  facility 
and  was  soon  able  to  use  it  fluently.  Some  months 
after  his  arrival  in  China,  one  of  the  secretaries  of  the 
American  Board  wrote  of  him:  "Rev.  Chauncey 
Goodrich  is  at  Peking.  He  has  shown  a  remarkable 
ability  in  acquiring  the  language,  and  gives  promise  of 
the  largest  usefulness  in  the  missionary  work,  a  fit 
associate  of  Henry  Blodgett.  His  admirable  tact,  en- 
terprise, conception  of  the  work,  and  faith  in  its  ulti- 
mate success,  are  all  that  could  be  desired."  Mr. 
Goodrich  published  in  the  Missionary  Herald  for  De- 
cember, 1867,  an  interesting  article  on  his  method  of 
learning  the  Chinese  language,  from  which  the  follow- 
ing extract  is  taken:  "I  adopted  a  child's  method  of 
learning  the  Chinese  language,  with  this  difference,  that 
I  took  to  my  books  the  first  year  of  my  life  (in  China) 
instead  of  the  fourth  or  fifth ;  and  in  my  reading  I  have 
still  followed  a  child's  method.  A  child  learns  the  col- 
loquial first, — the  every-day  language  of  the  people, — 
and  when  he  begins  to  read,  he  first  learns,  after  the 
alphabet,  to  read  pa,  ma,  cat,  dog,  horse,  etc., — all  words 

[444] 


Biographical  Sketches 

of  the  easiest  colloquial.  In  a  similar  way  I  have  de- 
voted myself  entirely  to  colloquial  phrases  and  charac- 
ters. First  I  learned  the  alphabet  (radicals),  214. 
About  half  of  them  were  given  me  by  a  lady  on  board 
ship, — all  she  had.  It  was  a  great  mistake  that  they 
were  not  furnished  me  in  America."  In  November, 
1866,  he  went  to  Tung-Chou,  to  open  a  chapel,  on 
which  occasion  he  wrote:  "I  have  to  write  now  that  I 
have  a  parish,  and  a  chapel  that  I  may  call  particularly 
my  own.  The  place — Tung-Chou — is  twelve  miles 
south  of  Peking,  a  walled  city,  two  miles  in  length  and 
one  mile  in  breadth  within  the  walls.  The  place  I  es- 
timate to  contain  50,000  or  75,000  inhabitants;  a 
thriving  business  city.  I  went  there  the  14th  of  No- 
vember (1866).  On  Saturday,  November  17,  I 
preached  in  the  chapel  for  the  first  time,  not  without 
some  anxiety,  knowing  there  would  be  a  large  crowd  to 
hear;  but  they  all  sat  or  stood  quietly  till  I  had  finished 
speaking,  when  I  gave  copies  of  the  Gospels  to  the  read- 
ing men.  Since  then,  I  have  preached  there  nearly 
every  day,  always  to  a  numerous  and  attentive 
audience." 

Along  with  this  work  of  preaching  and  continuing 
his  study  of  the  Chinese,  he  took  up  the  study  of  Mon- 
gol, translating  into  it  some  of  the  Gospels,  oversaw  a 
boys'  school,  made  tours  to  distant  towns,  and  had 
charge  of  the  printing  press,  publishing  numerous 
tracts  and  pamphlets. 

For  a  time  he  was  engaged  at  a  country  station 
(Yiicho,  170  miles  west  from  Peking).,  but  not  being 
able  to  remain  there  on  account  of  his  wife's  health,  he 
was  called  to  assist  in  the  Theological  Seminary  at 
Tung-Chou.  Here  he  taught  Old  Testament  History, 
Church  History,  Homiletics,  and  Pastoral  Theology. 
In  the  latter  part  of  1874  he  began  a  long  trip  with 
two  others  into  the  interior,  crossing  the  Yellow  River 

[445] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

and  travelling  in  Shansi  as  far  as  the  provincial  Cap- 
ital. He  was  gone  four  and  a  half  months,  travelling 
2200  miles,  preaching  often  and  distributing  quantities 
of  books.  In  1877  he  writes  of  the  growth  of  his  work, 
saying  that  when  he  went  to  Peking,  about  twelve  years 
before,  there  were  but  three  members  of  the  church, 
while  the  last  annual  report  showed  a  membership  of 
200  to  which  sixty  had  been  added  in  the  current  year. 
During  the  nearly  half  a  century  of  service  in  China, 
whether  as  pastor,  preacher,  teacher,  author,  translator, 
Dr.  Goodrich  has  ever  been  an  indefatigable  worker,  and 
manifested  an  unreserved  devotion  to  his  work.  He 
has  ever  had  great  enthusiasm  for  China  and  has  never 
failed  to  prophesy  great  things  for  the  future  of  the 
people.  Even  when  he  has  returned  to  this  country  for 
recreation,  he  has  been  busy  speaking  to  the  churches 
or  writing  for  the  press.  The  above  summary  of  his 
offices  does  not  tell  the  complete  story  of  his  services. 
A  better  idea  of  a  missionary's  life  may  be  gathered 
from  the  following  illuminating  extract  from  a  letter 
written  by  Dr.  Goodrich  to  the  secretary  of  his  class: 
"Up  as  usual  at  5:30.  Morning  study  of  the  Bible  be- 
fore and  after  breakfast.  Breakfast  at  7.  Prayer 
with  theological  students  at  8,  half  hour.  A  most  in- 
teresting study  of  the  resurrection,  1  Cor.,  15.  After 
prayers  I  ran  out  to  the  street  as  fast  as  my  feet  would 
carry  me  to  get  some  money  changed.  This  cost  a 
clean  half  hour.  Then  Bible  translation  for  an  hour. 
Another  hour  in  preparation  for  class,  and  fifteen  min- 
utes practice  on  the  cornet  with  a  helper.  At  11,  first 
class  in  seminary  for  an  hour,  beginning  with  a  ser- 
mon plan  and  criticism,  a  short  quiz  on  a  pastor's  duties, 
followed  by  a  lecture  of  a  half  hour  on  Luther.  At  12 
I  call  on  Dr.  Ingram  and  a  half  hour's  visit  with  a 
eunuch  from  the  palace.  He  is  one  of  a  hundred  and 
waits  on  the  Empress  Dowager.  It  was  exceedingly 

[446] 


Biographical  Sketches 

interesting  to  me,  and  I  gained  quite  a  little  informa- 
tion about  Her  Majesty  and  about  the  Emperor. 
12:30  dinner.  After  dinner  I  donned  my  overalls  and 
prepared  to  do  something  new." 

Dr.  Goodrich  is  still  in  active  service  and  is  one  of 
a  very  few  missionaries  of  the  Board  who  are  nearing 
the  completion  of  a  half  century  of  service.  Happily, 
while  he  is  granted  the  privilege  of  seeing  with  his  own 
eyes  the  partial  fulfillment  of  his  own  earlier  predictions 
of  a  "golden  harvest"  in  China,  he  is  enjoying  the  Old 
Testament  blessing  promised  to  those  who  are  planted  in 
the  house  of  the  Lord, — they  shall  still  bring  forth  -fruit 
in  old  age. 

Dr.  Goodrich's  more  important  work  in  China 
might  be  brought  under  the  three-fold  classification  of 
evangelistic,  educational,  and  literary.  He  has  been 
a  teacher  in  the  college  from  the  time  of  its  founding, 
about  twenty  years  ago;  dean  of  the  theological  semi- 
nary twenty-five  years;  a  writer  >of  hymns  for  over 
thirty  years ;  and  engaged  in  the  work  of  Bible  transla- 
tion for  over  twenty  years.  He  has  also  been  secretary 
of  the  North  China  Mission.  His  ability  and  success  as 
a  teacher  were  promptly  recognized  by  the  authorities 
of  the  English  College  in  Peking,  in  which  he  was  in- 
vited to  become  a  professor. 

His  Alma  Mater  honored  him  with  the  degree  of 
Doctor  of  Divinity  in  1891. 

He  married  first,  September  10,  1864,  Abbie, 
daughter  of  Stephen  Hoyt  Ambler  of  Green  River, 
New  York,  who  died  at  Tung-Chou,  September  1, 
1874;  married  second,  May  31,  1878,  Justina  Emily, 
daughter  of  Amos  Warner  Wheeler  of  Seymour,  Con- 
necticut, who  had  been  connected  with  the  Japan  Mis- 
sion. '  She  died  of  dysentery,  at  Tung-Chou,  Septem- 
ber 4,  1878,  after  an  illness  of  a  few  days,  and  after  a 
happy  married  life  of  about  three  months.  He  next 

[447] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

married  May  13,  1880,  Sarah  Boardman  Clapp,  daugh- 
ter of  Rev.  Luther  and  Harriet  Priscilla  (Stedman) 
Clapp,  a  descendant  of  Roger  Clapp,  who  came  from 
Devonshire,  England,  to  Nantasket,  on  the  Mary  and 
John,  in  1630. 

Of  four  children  born  to  him,  two,  a  daughter  and 
son,  by  the  last  marriage,  are  living:  Grace  Goodrich, 
a  graduate  of  the  class  of  1912  at  Oberlin  College,  and 
Luther  Carrington  Goodrich,  a  member  of  the  class  of 
1917  at  Williams. 

He  has  published:  "A  Chinese-English  Pocket 
Dictionary,"  containing  10,400  characters;  "A  Book  of 
Mandarin  Colloquial  Sentences"  (some  20,000)  ;  "A 
Chinese  Hymnal"  (in  collaboration  with  Henry  Blod- 
gett)  ;  various  tracts,  essays  and  sermons.  He  is 
chairman  of  a  committee  of  five  who  have  been  engaged 
for  years  in  translating  the  Bible  into  the  Universal 
Mandarin  Colloquial.  This  is  the  spoken  language  of 
the  whole  of  China,  excluding  the  South  East  Seg- 
ment, from  Shanghai  to  Canton,  and  includes  at  least 
three-quarters  of  the  inhabitants  of  China.  All  of  the 
New  Testament  and  a  quarter  of  the  Old  Testament 
are  completed. 

FREDERICK  HICKS,  son  of  Uel  and  Betsey  (Wai- 
bridge)  Hicks,  was  born  in  Bennington,  Vermont,  Sep- 
tember 26,  1834.  He  was  the  grandson  of  Charles 
Hicks,  who,  with  his  sons,  drove  the  first  stages  over 
the  mountain  on  the  route  between  Bennington  and 
Boston,  and  also  southward  in  the  direction  of  Pitts- 
field.  His  great-great-grandfather,  on  his  father's  side, 
was  killed  in  the  battle  of  Lexington.  His  great-grand- 
father on  his  mother's  side  was  General  Ebenezer  Wai- 
bridge,  who  was  born  in  Norwich,  Connecticut,  in  1738 
and  went  to  Bennington  in  1765.  He  was  an  officer  in 
Colonel  Warner's  regiment  of  Green  Mountain  Boys 

[448] 


Biographical  Sketches 

in  the  winter  campaign  of  1776,  in  Canada;  served  as 
adjutant  in  the  Bennington  battle;  in  1780,  succeeded 
Colonel  Herrick  in  the  command  of  the  Bennington 
regiment,  and  afterward  became  brigadier-general. 
He  was  also  representative  of  the  town  in  the  General 
Assembly,  in  1778  and  1780,  and  a  member  of  the  State 
Council  for  eight  years,  1786-95.  The  Walbridge  fam- 
ily traces  its  ancestry  back  to  Suffolk  County,  England. 
"Sir  William  de  Walbridge  accompanied  King  Richard 
Coaur  de  Lion  to  the  Holy  Land,  in  the  4th  crusade, 
and  there  greatly  distinguished  himself." 

William  Hicks,  an  uncle  of  the  subject  of  our  sketch, 
was  graduated  at  Williams  as  Valedictorian  of  his  class 
in  1829.  A  brother,  George,  was  a  member  of  the  class 
of  1864  here;  enlisted  as  lieutenant  in  the  Fourteenth 
Vermont  Infantry;  was  in  the  battle  of  Gettysburg; 
and  was  killed  before  Petersburg  July  30,  1864.  He 
had  been  appointed  acting  adjutant;  and  for  gallant 
services,  a  commission  of  brevet  captaincy  was  made  out 
for  him,  by  vote  of  Congress,  and  sent  to  his  parents. 

Frederick  Hicks,  before  going  to  college,  was  for 
four  years  clerk  in  a  store  in  Hoosick  Falls,  New  York. 
He  united  with  the  First  Church,  Bennington,  March 
5,  1854,  and  in  1857  entered  college  as  a  Freshman.  In 
college  he  was  a  member  of  the  Anti- Secret  Confedera- 
tion; of  the  Mills  Theological  Society;  of  the  Lyceum  of 
Natural  History,  and  was  one  of  the  party  which  went 
to  Greenland  under  the  auspices  of  the  Lyceum  of  Nat- 
ural History,  in  1860.  Either  before  coming  to  college, 
or  while  here,  he  imbibed  the  spirit  of  the  missionary 
zeal  and  enterprise  which  first  showed  itself  here  in 
1806.  Early  in  his  college  course  he  consecrated  himself 
unreservedly  to  the  cause  of  Christ,  and  the  first  work 
he  did  after  graduation,  when  he  went  to  Central  Amer- 
ica as  a  self-supporting  colporteur  and  missionary,  was 
in  the  spirit  of  his  earlier  consecration.  Partly  in  obedi- 

[449] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

ence  to  his  idea  of  self-support,  and  partly  for  the  pur- 
pose of  being  independent  of  any  society,  he  did  not 
offer  himself  to  the  American  Board,  and  when  subse- 
quently he  received  appointments  from  the  American 
Bible  Society  and  the  American  Tract  Society,  he  re- 
mained loyal  to  his  original  purpose.  For  the  purpose 
of  finding  out  the  religious  condition  of  the  people,  he 
visited  Guatemala,  Nicaragua,  Costa  Rica,  and  Colum- 
bia, preaching,  and  distributing  bibles  and  religious 
tracts.  In  his  enthusiasm  he  wrote:  "I  know  the  power 
of  the  Word,  and  God's  influence  upon  the  minds  and 
hearts  of  the  people,  and  will  pray  on  and  hope  on." 

He  entered  earnestly  upon  the  study  of  the  Spanish 
language  and  became  one  of  the  most  proficient  in  the 
use  of  the  language  of  the  Spanish-speaking  residents 
there.  In  January,  1865,  he  engaged  in  steady  Christian 
work  in  Panama,  where  he  opened  a  school  for  the  gratu- 
itous instruction  of  colored  children,  and  at  the  solicita- 
tion of  some  foreign  families,  taught  their  children  for 
a  time.  He  also  established  a  Sunday-school  for  the 
children  of  foreign  residents,  conducted  religious  serv- 
ices on  Sunday  and  week-day  evenings,  visited  the  sick 
and  poor,  held  for  some  time  a  service  of  Scriptural  ex- 
position and  prayer,  and  often,  when  there  was  no 
clergyman,  officiated  at  funerals.  After  a  brief  visit 
to  his  home  in  the  summer  of  1865,  during  which  time 
he  presented  the  claims  of  his  missionary  work  in  vari- 
ous churches,  he  returned  to  his  work  in  Panama  in 
the  fall.  On  account  of  having  a  wider  field  of  in- 
fluence, he  accepted  a  position  in  the  United  States  Con- 
sulate, where  he  was  for  a  time  in  full  charge.  He  used 
the  Consulate  for  Sabbath  services,  and  had  a  Bible 
Repository  in  connection  with  his  position. 

In  October,  1868,  Ije  again  revisited  the  States,  and 
was  ordained  to  preach  by  a  Council  of  Congregational 
churches,  in  the  First  Church,  Bennington,  December 

[450] 


Biographical  Sketches 

23  of  that  year,  Professor  Albert  Hopkins  preaching 
the  sermon. 

During  the  temporary  absence  of  the  pastor,  he  sup- 
plied for  some  weeks  the  pulpit  of  the  church  in  Ben- 
nington  where  he  had  been  ordained  and  of  which  he 
was  a  member. 

Owing  to  the  illness  of  his  wife,  he  left  her  at  a  san- 
itarium, in  Dansville,  New  York,  and  returned  to  Pan- 
ama, in  March  of  that  year.  Through  his  instrumen- 
tality, a  church  edifice  costing  $12,000  was  erected.  A 
church  was  organized  and  regular  services  were  held. 
His  health,  however,  soon  failed.  A  severe  fall  on  the 
ice,  which  he  suffered  in  March  before  leaving  this  coun- 
try, had  developed  into  a  severe  form  of  hip  disease,  and 
made  it  necessary  for  him  to  rest  from  his  work.  Re- 
turning to  this  country  in  September,  1869,  he  expe- 
rienced some  benefit  from  treatment  at  Dansville.  Go- 
ing with  his  family  to  Bennington  in  September  of  the 
following  year,  the  hip  disease  having  disappeared,  he 
hoped  for  a  recovery  of  his  health.  But  partly  from 
constitutional  tendency,  and  chiefly  from  overwork  and 
exposure  in  an  unhealthy  climate,  he  was  an  invalid. 
He  died  February  24,  1871,  at  the  early  age  of  36. 

Though  his  life  was  short  in  the  number  of  years, 
it  was  rich  in  accomplishment,  as  well  as  in  example 
and  the  exhibition  of  character.  He  was  emphatically 
a  man  of  strong  faith  and  earnest  convictions.  To  these 
principles  may  be  traced  his  idea  of  self-support,  which 
he  carried  out  completely  to  the  last,  and  his  purpose  to 
be  independent  of  any  society.  With  a  confidence  sim- 
ilar to  that  of  Miiller,  as  manifested  in  his  "Life  of 
Trust,"  he  carried  on  his  work  in  humble  reliance  upon 
Providence.  And  he  met  with  success  similar  to  that  of 
Miiller.  Means  came  to  him  often  from  totally  unex- 
pected sources.  He  was  thus  enabled  to  carry  on  his 
work,  providing  for  his  own  and  his  family's  wants, 

[451] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

and  at  the  same  time  made  liberal  benefactions  to  many 
needy  causes ;  and  for  some  time  while  in  Panama  sup- 
ported, out  of  these  providential  means,  a  colpor- 
teur. His  self-renunciation  and  consecration  appear 
the  more  marked  when  it  is  recalled  that  he  turned  aside 
from  lucrative  positions  that  were  offered  to  him,  in 
which  he  could  have  acquired  a  considerable  fortune 
had  his  motives  been  those  of  gain. 

Besides  the  church  edifice  which  was  erected  by  his 
instrumentality,  the  "Foreigners'  Cemetery,"  a  beau- 
tifully laid  out  burial  place  for  foreigners  dying  in  Pan- 
ama, was  a  work  due  to  his  plannings,  superintendence, 
and  labor. 

His  services  of  sympathy,  and  Christian  love,  as 
well  as  his  culture,  made  him  a  welcome  and  esteemed 
guest  in  the  homes  of  the  wealthy  and  cultivated.  The 
most  precious  remembrance  of  him  will  be  in  connection 
with  his  Christlike  labors  in  ministering  to  the  sick,  the 
suffering,  and  the  poor. 

On  January  8,  1869,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Mary 
Jane  Waters,  daughter  of  Hiram  Waters  of  Benning- 
ton,  Vermont. 

They  had  one  son,  Frederick  Waters  Hicks,  who 
was  described  as  having  "marked  characteristics, 
strongly  resembling  those  of  his  father."  The  son  fitted 
for  college  at  Phillips  Andover  Academy  and  entered 
Williams  with  the  class  of  1891.  Members  of  his  class 
remember  him  as  "a  quiet,  modest  young  man,  of  un- 
blemished character  and  correct  conduct,  interested  but 
not  notably  prominent  in  religious  work,  fond  of  debat- 
ing and  an  active,  earnest  member  of  the  Philotechnian 
Society."  He  read  widely,  and  though  caring  little  for 
rank  in  scholarship,  he  was  a  successful  student.  He 
had  strong  convictions  and  was  outspoken  in  his  opin- 
ions. While  he  was  of  a  reserved  disposition  and  did  not 
make  friends  readily,  those  who  really  knew  him  loved 

[452] 


Biographical  Sketches 

*  him.  In  the  first  term  of  his  Senior  year  he  was  obliged 
to  leave  college  for  a  time,  returning  in  the  spring  and 
entering  the  class  of  1892.  He  was,  however,  far  from 
well  and  a  second  attack  of  appendicitis  resulted  in  his 
death  in  July,  1891. 

Mrs.  Hicks  died  at  Bennington,  June  3, 1909. 

GEORGE  COOK  RAYNOLDS  was  born  in  Longmeadow, 
Massachusetts,  February  25,  1839,  two  days  after  the 
death  of  his  father.  He  was  the  son  of  George  and 
Mary  (Cook)  Raynolds.  His  grandparents  were 
Samuel  and  Lucy  (Pitkin)  Raynolds,  and  Oliver  and 
Miriam  (Rockwell)  Cook.  His  ancestry,  which  is  a 
distinguished  one,  is  traced,  on  the  father's  side,  through 
Rev.  Stephen,  Rev.  John,  and  Deacon  Samuel  Wil- 
liams to  Robert  Williams,  who  came  from  Norwich, 
England,  and  settled  in  Roxbury,  Massachusetts.  Rev. 
John  Williams  was  captured  by  the  French  and  In- 
dians at  Deerfield,  in  1704,  and  carried  to  Canada. 
Eliazer  Williams,  supposed  to  be  the  lost  Dauphin,  was 
in  the  family  of  Rev.  John  Williams.  Among  other 
distinguished  ancestors  were  Richard  Mather,  John 
Wareham,  and  John  Davenport. 

Mr.  Raynolds  belongs  to  a  missionary  family.  Of 
the  decendants  of  his  grandfather,  Samuel  Raynolds, 
ten  have  already  engaged  in  missionary  work.  Mrs. 
William  G.  Schauffler,  daughter  of  Samuel  Raynolds, 
was  the  first  single  lady  sent  out  by  the  American 
Board.  Her  son,  Rev.  Henry  A.  Schauffler,  D.D. 
(Williams  1859),  his  son,  William  Gray  Schauffler, 
M.D.,  and  daughter,  Mrs.  Benjamin  Labaree,  have  all 
been  engaged  in  foreign  missionary  work.  The  eldest 
sister  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  Emily  Pitkin  Ray- 
nolds, married  Rev.  Simeon  Howard  Calhoun,  D.D. 
(Williams  1829),  September  19,  1848,  and  labored 
more  than  forty  years  in  the  Syria  Mission.  Their  son, 

[453] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

Charles  William  Calhoun  (Williams  1873),  was  con- 
nected with  the  same  mission  and  died  June  23,  1883. 
Their  daughter,  Emily  Raynolds  Calhoun,  married  Dr. 
Galen  Bancroft  Danforth,  December  25,  1871,  and 
was  connected  with  the  same  mission  till  the  time  of  her 
death  in  1881.  Another  daughter,  Susan  Howard  Cal- 
houn, married  Rev.  Charles  Newton  Ransom  (her 
cousin  and  another  descendent  of  Samuel  Raynolds), 
and  is  now  connected  with  the  Zulu  Mission. 

The  father  of  Mr.  Raynolds  was,  by  occupation,  a 
house  builder.  He  was  a  reliable  citizen,  an  earnest 
Christian  and  interested  in  missions.  After  his  death 
the  widow  returned  to  her  home  in  East  Windsor  Hill, 
Connecticut.  He  was  fitted  for  college  at  the  acad- 
emy in  that  place.  Here  he  was  under  the  instruction 
of  Paul  A.  Chadbourne,  who  was  then  principal  of  the 
academy,  and  subsequently  president  of  Williams 
College.  Probably  it  was  due,  in  part,  to  Dr.  Chad- 
bourne's  influence  that  Raynolds  chose  Williams  Col- 
lege, where  he  entered  as  Freshman  in  1857.  In  col- 
lege he  was  a  member  and  one  of  the  presidents  of  the 
Mills  Theological  Society.  He  was  one  of  the  speak- 
ers at  the  Junior  Exhibition,  his  subject  being  "The 
Trinity  of  Excellence,"  and  at  Commencement,  when 
his  subject  was  "The  Monument  an  Educator." 

After  graduation,  he  taught  for  a  year  at  Mount 
Anthony  Seminary,  Bennington,  Vermont.  He  then 
attended  medical  lectures  in  Pittsfield  for  a  time,  and 
then  studied  in  the  medical  department  of  New  York 
University,  where  he  was  graduated  in  March,  1864, 
with  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine.  The  following 
month  he  was  appointed  acting  assistant  surgeon  in 
the  United  States  Navy,  a  position  which  he  held  till 
December,  1865.  He  was  attached  to  the  Otsego,  in 
the  fall  of  1864,  when  Lieutenant  Cushing  blew  up  the 
Confederate  ram  Albemarle;  was  present  at  the  cap- 

[454-] 


Biographical  Sketches 

ture  of  Plymouth,  North  Carolina,  and,  when  the  Ot- 
sego  was  sunk  by  torpedoes,  was  transferred  to  the 
Chenango,  and  joining  the  South  Atlantic  Squadron, 
he  reached  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  the  day  after 
it  was  captured  by  the  Union  forces. 

On  resigning  from  the  Navy  at  the  close  of  the  war, 
he  received  an  appointment  to  King's  County  Hospital, 
Long  Island.  From  here  he  went  to  Manchester,  Ver- 
mont, and  then  to  Chicago,  where  he  remained  from 
November,  1866,  till  July,  1869. 

From  early  years  he  had  felt  an  interest  in  mission- 
ary work,  having  an  aunt  and  sister  on  mission  ground, 
and  he  now  determined  to  devote  his  life  to  the  regener- 
ation of  the  Orient.  On  September  11,  1869,  under  ap- 
pointment of  the  American  Board,  he,  with  his  wife, 
sailed  for  the  Eastern  Turkey  Mission,  arriving  at 
Harpoot  November  26.  Here  he  remained  about  two 
years  and  a  half,  devoting  himself  to  the  study  of  the 
Armenian  and  doing  general  missionary  work,  besides 
having  the  care,  as  physician,  of  four  stations.  In  1871, 
at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  mission  he  was  ordained 
as  a  minister  and  appointed  as  one  of  those  who  should 
proceed  to  Van  to  open  a  new  work  there,  and,  from 
that  time,  he  devoted  himself  more  to  educational  and 
evangelistic  work  and  less  to  medical  practice.  In  1872, 
Dr.  and  Mrs.  Raynolds  with  Rev.  H.  S.  Barnum  from 
Harpoot,  and  Rev.  Joseph  E.  Scott,  a  new  missionary, 
established  themselves  at  Van,  a  city  of  great  interest 
because  of  its  location  and  antiquity.  It  is  the  capital 
of  the  vilayet  bearing  that  name  and  is  situated  at  the 
converging  point  of  the  three  empires  of  Russia,  Persia, 
and  Turkey,  being  about  sixty  miles  from  the  frontier 
of  Persia  and  about  100  miles  from  Russia.  On  ac- 
count of  its  proximity  to  these  frontiers,  Van  is  the  place 
of  residence  of  English,  Russian  and  Persian  consuls. 
The  city  is  elevated  5500  feet  above  the  level  of  the 

[455] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

sea,  and  from  the  summit  of  the  old  citadel  Mt.  Ararat, 
covered  with  eternal  snow,  is  within  sight.  Van  occu- 
pies the  sight  of  a  prehistoric  city  and  many  cuneiform 
inscriptions  are  found,  cut  in  the  living  rock,  containing 
records  of  races  contemporary  with  Sennacherib  and 
the  Babylonian  dynasty.  At  the  time  when  the  mission- 
aries established  themselves  there  the  city  had  a  popula- 
tion of  35,000,  about  two-thirds  of  whom  were  nominal 
Christians.  The  work  there  was  among  the  nominally 
Christian  Armenian  natives.  The  following  extracts, 
giving  some  account  of  the  city  and  its  population,  are 
from  communications  published  in  the  Missionary  Her- 
ald for  1875,  the  first  extract  being  from  a  letter  of  Dr. 
Raynolds,  and  the  second  from  the  first  annual  report 
of  the  station.  "The  city  is  supposed  to  have  been 
founded  by  Semiramis,  as  a  summer  resort  from  the 
heated  plains  of  Babylon,  and  many  inscriptions 
in  the  arrow-headed  character  still  attest  its  ancient 
occupation.  The  situation  of  the  city  seems  to  have 
been  determined  by  the  existence  of  an  isolated  ledge 
of  rock,  near  the  southeastern  corner  of  the  lake.  At 
present  the  walled  city,  while  containing  most  of  the 
shops,  is  the  residence  of  but  few  of  the  inhabitants. 
The  'gardens'  (any  place  where  trees  are  found  is  called 
a  garden  in  this  country)  stretch  away  on  two  sides  of 
the  city  to  the  distance  of  four  or  five  miles,  and  it  is 
here  that  most  of  the  people  reside,  the  men  going  daily 
to  the  city  for  their  business." 

"In  the  city  there  is  more  general  intelligence  than 
in  most  interior  cities.  Most  of  the  young  men  can 
read,  and  there  are  nine  boys'  and  two  girls'  schools, 
with  an  aggregate,  says  the  Bishop's  scribe,  of  2000  pu- 
pils. Very  many  of  the  men  have  been  to  Constanti- 
nople, and  some  few  to  France  and  Germany.  This 
travel  has  liberalized  them,  but  it  may  be  doubted 
whether  it  has  made  them  more  hopeful  subjects  for  the 


Biographical  Sketches 

gospel  work.  Several  societies  of  young  men  exist, 
formed,  avowedly,  for  intellectual  improvement;  and  it 
is  common  to  hear  the  members  acknowledge  that  many 
foolish  and  superfluous  rites  have  attached  themselves 
to  their  religion,  which  it  is  their  purpose,  little  by  little, 
to  cut  away.  Beyond  this,  however,  their  idea  does  not 
go." 

Such  is  the  city  where  Dr.  Raynolds,  with  an  oc- 
casional visit  to  America  or  Europe,  for  relaxation,  has 
labored  with  the  greatest  devotion  and  zeal  for  more 
than  two  score  years.  These  labors  have  been  both  va- 
ried and  abundant.  To  tell  of  preaching,  teaching, 
practising  medicine,  giving  medical  lectures,  distribut- 
ing copies  of  the  Bible,  superintending  the  erection  of 
church  and  school  buildings,  caring  for  mission  prem- 
ises, touring,  ministering  to  the  wants  of  the  poor  in 
famine  and  war,  would  be  to  enumerate  but  a  part  of 
the  duties  that  fell  to  the  lot  of  Dr.  Raynolds.  A  re- 
view of  the  work  at  Van  after  a  period  of  twenty-five 
years  showed  that  while  at  the  beginning  of  the  mission 
the  Bible  was  an  almost  unknown  book,  during  twenty- 
five  years  there  had  been  distributed  more  than  1000 
copies  of  the  whole  Bible,  upward  of  3000  copies  of 
the  New  Testament,  together  with  4500  parts.  The 
strong  prejudice  formerly  existing  against  the  mission- 
aries had  been  greatly  weakened  and  in  place  of  perse- 
cution had  come  congratulation.  The  Sabbath  services 
were  attended  by  audiences  of  500,  while  more  than 
500  pupils  were  receiving  daily  instruction  in  the 
schools.  The  fact  that  a  missionary  station  exists  at 
Van  to-day  must  be  attributed  to  the  unswerving  loy- 
alty and  indomitable  perseverance  of  Dr.  Raynolds,  who 
has  nobly  held  to  his  post  through  all  discouragement 
and  change.  Nor  has  this  work  been  limited  to  Van. 
Schools  are  maintained  in  eighteen  neighboring  villages, 
and  often  the  gospel  has  been  preached  on  tours  and 

[457] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

journeys  made  into  distant  regions.  In  the  fall  and 
winter  of  1887-88,  Dr.  Raynolds  made  two  such  jour- 
neys to  Persia  and  one  to  Russia,  travelling  over  900 
miles  on  horseback  in  an  absence  of  seven  weeks. 

If  his  abundant  labors  recall  the  doings  of  apos- 
tolic times,  still  more  so  do  the  perils  through  which  he 
has  passed,  for  he  has  been  called  to  witness  war,  pesti- 
lence, famine,  massacre,  and  to  pass  through  persecution 
and  dangers  of  all  sorts.  Some  accounts  of  these  trials 
are  given  in  various  volumes  of  the  Missionary  Herald. 
One  of  the  most  terrible  of  his  experiences,  as  re- 
counted in  the  Herald  for  1883,  was  his  encounter  with 
a  Kurdish  chief,  by  whom  he  was  robbed  and  severely 
wounded,  having  a  most  narrow  escape  with  his  life.  An 
interesting  sequel  of  this  assault  occurred  twenty  years 
later  when  the  Turkish  Government  gave  Dr.  Raynolds 
an  indemnity  for  the  attack,  by  means  of  which  he  was 
able  to  help  people  to  erect  the  church  they  greatly 
needed,  and  which  is  sometimes  spoken  of  as  "The 
Church  which  the  Kurds  built." 

At  the  time  of  the  massacres  at  Sassoon  in  1884  and 
again  in  1895,  Dr.  Raynolds  rendered  efficient  service, 
spending  several  months,  at  the  request  of  the  British 
Ambassador,  in  distributing  aid  to  the  survivors. 

In  consequence  of  the  massacres  that  occurred  in 
Van  in  1896,  he  had  a  new  field  of  service  opened  to 
him,  some  account  of  which  is  given  in  a  letter  of  re- 
cent date.  "The  general  massacres  of  1895,"  writes  Dr. 
Raynolds,  "took  place  while  I  was  in  Sassoon,  and  in 
June  of  the  following  year,  Van  took  its  turn  at  mas- 
sacre experiences.  In  consequence  of  this,  an  orphan- 
age was  opened  here  in  the  fall,  which  has  continued 
till  the  present  year  [1911].  During  these  sixteen  years 
nearly  a  thousand  children  have  spent  a  longer  or 
shorter  time  in  the  orphanage,  a  very  fair  proportion  of 
whom  have  fully  made  good,  several  already  taking 

[458] 


Biographical  Sketches 

good  positions  as  teachers,  physicians,  preachers,  etc., 
much  more  than  half  are  living  fairly  satisfactory  lives, 
while  but  a  small  proportion  have  really  done  badly. 
The  retrospect  of  these  sixteen  years  of  orphanage  work 
affords  me  much  satisfaction.  But  this  has  not  been 
the  only  form  of  philanthropic  work  carried  on  during 
this  period.  For  much  of  the  time  nearly  or  quite  fam- 
ine conditions  have  prevailed  and  large  sums  of  money 
have  been  sent  for  distribution  to  the  suffering,  several 
hundred  thousand  dollars  having  passed  through  our 
hands." 

Of  the  variety  and  importance  of  the  work  accom- 
plished by  Dr.  Raynolds  and  his  wife,  who  has  been  his 
faithful  and  efficient  helpmeet,  we  may  get  a  completer 
idea  from  the  following  extract  taken  from  a  letter  writ- 
ten to  his  home  Board  by  Rev.  Mr.  Coan,  who  is  a  mis- 
sionary of  the  Presbyterian  Board  in  Persia,  and  who 
in  1900  made  a  visit  to  Van.  "It  has  been  a  great  priv- 
ilege," writes  Mr.  Coan,  "to  see  the  wonderful  work 
that  is  being  carried  on  here  by  these  two  giants,  Dr. 
Raynolds  and  his  wife.  Think  of  a  man  as  at  once  sta- 
tion treasurer,  distributing  relief  ^11  over  the  plain,  and 
keeping  the  accounts  involved  and  sending  the  reports 
that  are  required,  keeping  up  preaching  services  in 
two  places,  four  miles  apart,  superintending  the  care 
of  500  orphans  and  400  day  pupils,  the  500  not  only 
cared  for  physically,  but  taught  and  so  utilized  as  to 
in  part  pay  their  own  expense.  For  example,  there  are 
trades  taught,  and  half  the  day  is  given  to  trades  and 
half  to  study.  All  the  cloth  used  is  woven  by  the  chil- 
dren in  the  looms  on  the  place,  the  skins  of  the  oxen 
and  sheep  eaten  are  cured  on  the  place,  and  boys  make 
them  up  into  shoes  of  three  grades.  Carpentering  and 
blacksmithing  are  also  done,  and  all  the  work  needed  on 
the  place  is  done  by  the  boys.  All  the  food  needed  is 
prepared  on  the  place,  thus  training  up  another  corps 

[459] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

as  bakers  and  cooks.  So  you  have  every  day  on  the 
place,  being  taught  how  to  live  useful  Christian  lives, 
not  far  from  1000  children.  Then  add  to  all  the  above 
the  medical  work  here,  to  which  three  afternoons  are 
given,  and  you  have  at  least  a  part  of  the  duties  of  this 
couple.  Alone,  without  associates,  they  have  carried 
all  these  burdens  until  it  is  a  wonder  that  they  are  not 
broken  down." 

The  following  extract  is  from  a  letter  written  in 
1903  by  Rev.  Dr.  J.  L.  Barton,  one  of  the  Secretaries 
of  the  American  Board,  and  addressed  to  the  secretary 
of  the  class  of  1861:  "In  Manchester,  Sunday  after- 
noon, you  asked  me  if  I  would  write  you  about  Dr. 
Raynolds,  something  in  the  line  of  which  I  spoke  to 
you  of  him — I  am  very  glad  to  do  so. 

"We  regard  Dr.  Raynolds  as  one  of  our  strong, 
staunch  missionaries  in  Turkey.  He  is  a  man  of  indom- 
itable energy,  always  up  and  at  it,  never  discouraged 
and  never  defeated. 

"He  went  to  Van,  one  of  the  most  fanatical  parts 
of  our  Eastern  Turkey  field,  and  within  about  two  days' 
journey  of  the  Persian  border,  in  1872,  and  opened  the 
station.  He  met  with  endless  opposition,  but  persist- 
ently held  on,  until  during  the  last  two  or  three  years 
the  whole  community  began  to  recognize  his  self-de- 
voted labors,  and  a  very  extensive  work  has  been  built 
up.  Dr.  Raynolds  has  built  a  monument  for  himself 
there  in  Van,  which  will  abide  when  other  monuments 
that  have  been  erected  in  granite  and  marble  have 
crumbled  and  been  forgotten.  .  .  . 

"We  have  few  cases  of  more  forgetfulness  of  self, 
and  an  entire  mergence  of  self-interest  in  the  great  work 
that  has  grown  up  on  every  side.  Dr.  Raynolds  never 
seems  to  think  of  himself  but  of  what  he  can  do  to  help 
on  the  Kingdom  in  Turkey. 

"You  can  well  imagine  that  such  a  man  is  a  great 

[460] 


Biographical  Sketches 

power.  Mrs.  Raynolds  is  in  sympathy  with  him  in  all 
the  work.  We  are  willing  to  trust  Dr.  Raynolds  with 
any  sum  of  money  to  be  expended  in  the  work,  hav- 
ing perfect  confidence  that  it  would  be  expended  most 
wisely,  and  where  it  would  do  the  largest  and  most 
permanent  good." 

The  small  boys'  school  started  by  Dr.  Raynolds 
forty  years  ago  has  grown  into  a  high  school,  with  over 
500  pupils  in  all  its  departments,  and  has  recently 
(1913)  taken  the  advance  step  into  a  college  of  which 
Dr.  Raynolds  is  president.  This  is  the  tenth  American 
college  established  by  the  American  Board  in  Turkey. 
Such  is  the  location  of  Van  that  it  is  the  natural 
educational  center  for  a  wide  extent  of  territory, 
not  only  in  Eastern  Turkey  but  in  both  Russia  and 
Persia. 

The  vilayet  alone,  of  which  Van  is  the  capital,  has 
a  population  of  380,000.  The  new  college  is  to  provide 
facilities  for  the  higher  education  of  a  population  of 
not  less  than  1,000,000,  many  of  whom  are  Armenians, 
but  the  majority  of  whom  are  Turks  or  Kurds.  Mos- 
lems join  with  the  Armenians  in  making  an  urgent 
appeal  for  the  new  college,  and  various  races  unite  in 
aiding  its  support. 

Rarely  in  the  long  period  of  their  service  have  Dr. 
and  Mrs.  Raynolds  visited  their  native  land.  In  1905- 
06,  in  order  to  restore  his  health,  Dr.  Raynolds  made  an 
extensive  tour,  in  which  he  visited  Harpoot,  Sivas,  Con- 
stantinople, and  various  places  on  the  continent  of  Eu- 
rope and  in  England  and  Ireland. 

He  received  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity  from 
his  Alma  Mater  in  1914. 

Dr.  Raynolds  married  August  31,  1869,  Martha, 
daughter  of  Reuben  and  Almira  (Wade)  Tinker,  of 
Lyme,  Connecticut,  and  granddaughter  of  George  and 
Martha  (Mather)  Wade.  They  have  no  children. 

[461] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

Dr.  Raynolds'  published  writings  are  mostly  con- 
tained in  different  volumes  of  the  Missionary  Herald. 


CLASS  OF  1862 

PATRICK  LYNET  GARDEN,  son  of  John  and  Anne 
(Lynet)  Garden,  was  born  March  17,  1835  (?),  in  Bal- 
lina,  County  Mayo,  Ireland.  His  father  was  a  farmer. 
The  son  entered  college  as  a  Freshman  in  1858.  He 
was  badly  handicapped  in  college  by  a  poor  preparation, 
but  by  hard  work,  he  overcame,  to  some  extent,  this 
disadvantage.  While  he  was  naturally  rather  dull,  he 
became,  when  much  roused,  brilliant.  Though  he  was 
not  at  all  notably  pious,  he  was  moral  and  upright,  a 
good  fellow,  and  a  person  whom  every  one  liked  in  a 
way.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Mills  Theological  So- 
ciety, of  which  he  was  for  a  time  vice-president.  He 
was  an  eloquent  speaker,  and  took  the  prize  at  the  Jun- 
ior Moonlight  Exhibition,  when  his  performance  was 
regarded  as  of  unusual  merit.  He  was  one  of  the  dis- 
putants at  the  Adelphic  Union  Exhibition,  February 
26,  1862;  and  was  Orator  at  the  Adelphic  Union  Exhi- 
bition July  9,  1862. 

After  graduation  he  entered  the  Union  Army,  be- 
coming a  second  lieutenant  in  a  company  of  the  125th 
New  York  Regiment,  of  which  company  his  classmate, 
Armstrong,  was  captain.  He  was  made  a  prisoner 
of  war  at  Harper's  Ferry  and  being  sent  on  parole  to 
Camp  Douglas  in  Chicago,  he  resigned  his  position  in 
the  army  and  entered  the  Theological  Seminary  of  the 
Northwest.  In  speaking  of  the  surrender  at  Harper's 
Ferry,  Captain  Armstrong  wrote  to  the  class  secre- 
tary: "We  proceeded  then  to  Chicago  via  Annapolis, 
Baltimore,  and  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania.  We  had  an 
easy  time  in  Chicago  and  a  fine  one.  There  Pat  Garden, 
my  second  lieutenant,  beat  his  sword  into  a  plough- 

[462] 


Biographical  Sketches 

share,  removed  the  brass  buttons  from  his  coat  and  the 
welting-cord  from  his  trousers,  put  on  a  long  face  and 
pretended  to  like  the  Hebrew  Grammar." 

During  the  summer  and  spring  of  the  first  year  of 
his  seminary  course,  Garden  was  engaged  by  the  Amer- 
ican Sunday-school  Union  to  visit  and  establish  Sab- 
bath-schools in  the  destitute  districts  of  Fulton  County, 
Illinois.  He  was  graduated  with  honor  from  the  sem- 
inary in  1865,  in  which  year  he  was  licensed  to  preach, 
married,  and  went  as  a  missionary  to  Siam.  Under 
date  of  June  26,  1882,  he  wrote  to  the  class  secre- 
tary: "After  a  few  years'  stay  in  that,  to  many,  un- 
healthy climate,  my  wife's  health  broke  completely 
down,  and  the  doctor  compelled  us  to  return  home. 
We  came  back  by  way  of  China  and  Japan.  My  next 
location  was  Manteno,  Illinois,  where  I  had  charge  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church  for  five  years. 

"Hemorrhage  of  the  lungs,  in  the  winter  of  1876, 
forced  me  to  take  flight  to  the  salubrious  climate  of  Cal- 
ifornia, where,  in  the  city  of  Marysville,  I  have  been 
pastor  of  a  good  Presbyterian  church  now  over  five 
years.  Every  year  during  the  summer  vacation  I  go 
with  my  family  into  the  Sierra  Nevada  Mountains, 
where  we  have  fishing  and  hunting  and  all  the  health 
and  pleasure  of  a  wild  mountain  life.  Last  year  I  went 
to  Buffalo  as  a  delegate  to  the  General  Assembly  of  our 
Church,  and  extended  my  trip  as  far  east  as  New  York 
City.  I  was  greatly  in  hopes  I  should  have  met  in  the 
metropolis  some  of  the  members  of  '62,  but  failed  in 
my  anticipation. 

"By  this  outline  sketch  you  will  perceive  that  my 
life  has  been,  perhaps,  the  most  varied  of  all  our  class- 
mates'. I  have  circumnavigated  the  globe,  and  seen 
much  of  the  light  and  dark  side  in  life  throughout  the 
world. 

"I  have  not  yet  reached  the  summit  of  fame,  and  I 

[463] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

am  not  sure  that  I  have,  or  ever  will,  come  even  to  the 
base  of  that  much-coveted  eminence.  However,  I  have 
had  tolerable  success,  and  am  blessed  with  one  of  the 
chief est  of  earthly  joys,  a  happy  family.  We  have  six 
children.  One  is  in  heaven,  and  five  (two  boys)  are  yet 
with  us,  happy  and  strong." 

He  remained  nine  years  at  Marysville,  after  which 
he  spent  one  year  at  Dixon,  and  then  settled  at 
Red  Bluff,  California,  where  he  died  November  8, 
1890. 

He  was  married  in  Chicago,  August  29,  1865,  to 
Hannah  Caroline,  daughter  of  Dr.  William  G.  and 
Georgiana  L.  (Keating)  Dyas,  granddaughter  of  Dr. 
William  and  Anne  (Place)  Dyas  and  of  Rev.  George 
and  Jane  (Little)  Keating.  She  with  five  children 
survived  him.  Of  six  children  born  to  them  four  are 
now  living:  Godfrey  Lynet  Garden,  who  is  captain  in 
the  United  States  Revenue  Cutter  Service;  Harry 
Blythe  Pickens,  a  banker;  Alice  Campbell;  and  Geor- 
giana Caroline.  Mrs.  Garden  resides  in  Marysville, 
California. 

HENRY  THOMAS  PERRY  was  born  in  Ashfield,  Mas- 
sachusetts, May  6,  1838.  He  was  the  son  of  Alvan  and 
Sarah  Anne  (Sanderson)  Perry,  and  grandson  of  John 
and  Eunice  ( Cooledge)  Perry  and  of  Chester  and  Anna 
(Allis)  Sanderson.  His  immigrant  ancestors  were  all 
English  who  came  west  to  Ashfield  and  Whately, 
Massachusetts,  when  those  towns  were  organized.  All 
of  Mr.  Perry's  ancestors  were  men  and  women  of  in- 
tegrity, truth,  righteousness,  and  public  spirit.  Mr. 
Perry's  father  was  a  merchant,  and  for  twelve  years 
was  Inspector  of  Customs  at  Boston.  He  was  an 
eminently  religious  man,  who  diligently  studied  and  be- 
lieved God's  Word.  He  was  a  deacon  of  the  Congre- 
gational Church  in  Ashfield,  and,  at  one  time,  of  the 

[464] 


Biographical  Sketches 

Old  South  Church,  Boston,  at  Chambers  Street 
Chapel. 

Mr.  Perry  prepared  for  college  in  the  Sanderson 
Academy,  Ashfield,  and  in  the  Williston  Seminary, 
Easthampton,  Massachusetts.  He  entered  college  in 
1858,  becoming  a  member  of  a  class  that  had  an  unusual 
number  of  members  who  became  distinguished.  Among 
his  classmates  were  General  Samuel  Chapman  Arm- 
strong, President  Franklin  Carter,  Dr.  John  Henry 
Denison,  Dean  Edward  Herrick  Griffin,  Professor 
George  Lansing  Raymond,  and  Chancellor  Francis 
Huntington  Snow.  In  college  he  was  a  member  of  the 
Mills  Theological  Society;  the  Anti-Secret  Confedera- 
tion; the  Philologian  Society;  and  of  the  Lyceum  of 
Natural  History.  In  his  Senior  year  he  was  Jackson 
Orator,  and  was  one  of  the  speakers  at  the  Adelphic 
Union  Exhibition,  July  9,  1862.  He  was  for  a  time 
librarian  and  treasurer  of  the  Franklin  Library.  He 
was  one  of  the  speakers  at  Commencement,  his  appoint- 
ment being  an  Oration,  and  the  subject  of  his  address 
"Picket  Duty." 

After  graduation  he  entered  Auburn  Theological 
Seminary,  where  he  was  graduated  in  1865.  In  Decem- 
ber of  the  same  year  he  was  ordained,  Dr.  Mark  Hop- 
kins giving  the  "charge."  He  spent  one  year  in  home 
missionary  work  in  Holla,  Missouri,  and  in  November, 
1866,  under  appointment  of  the  American  Board, 
sailed  from  Boston,  with  his  wife,  for  Central  Turkey, 
arriving  at  Aintab  January  11,  1867.  He  remained 
in  that  field  for  seven  years,  when  he  returned  to  this 
country  for  a  brief  visit,  in  1873-74,  and  again  two  years 
later.  He  was  then  transferred  to  the  Western  Turkey 
Mission,  and  sailed  for  his  new  home  in  September, 
1876,  reaching  Sivas  October  30.  Mr.  Perry  taught 
homiletics  and  pastoral  theology  five  years  in  the  theo- 
logical seminary  at  Marash,  but  was  compelled  by  the 

[465] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

malarial  climate  of  that  region  to  remove  to  the  cooler 
uplands  of  Asia  Minor.  He  has  devoted  forty-six  years 
of  his  life  to  efficient  field  and  educational  service  for 
mission  churches.  A  good  idea  of  the  extent,  variety, 
and  success  of  his  missionary  labors  may  be  obtained 
from  his  numerous  communications  published  in  the 
Missionary  Herald,  telling  as  they  do  of  the  establish- 
ment of  churches,  schools,  and  asylums,  of  preaching 
and  teaching,  of  increasing  religous  interest,  of  visiting 
out-stations  and  of  touring  among  remote  villages. 

In  1900,  Mr.  Perry  wrote  of  Sivas  and  its  needs: 
"In  Sivas  we  are  in  the  center  of  a  large  and  populous 
province.  Taken  in  connection  with  the  two  colleges 
at  Aintab  and  Marsovan  (one  on  each  side  of  us),  to 
which  we  send  annually  our  graduates,  we  hold  an  un- 
questioned leadership  in  education.  Not  to  mention 
now  the  fundamental  character  of  our  thorough  in- 
struction in  Biblical  studies,  in  the  linguistic  and  scien- 
tific lines  no  schools  except  that  under  the  special 
endowment  of  the  Turkish  Government  even  undertake 
to  rival  us.  There  are  now  on  duty  six  teachers  hav- 
ing in  charge  265  pupils,  of  whom  only  ten  are  boarders. 
The  reason  why  there  are  no  more  boarding  pupils  is 
that  we  cannot  receive  them,  since  we  have  no  room  for 
a  boarding  department." 

The  most  important,  perhaps,  of  Mr.  Perry's  mis- 
sionary services  was  the  founding  of  the  normal  school 
at  Sivas  for  the  purpose  of  educating  native  teachers 
and  missionaries.  The  school  has  now  over  1000  resi- 
dent pupils.  Tributary  to  this  school  is  a  system  of 
primary  schools  which  were  organized  by  Mr.  Perry 
throughout  Pontus,  these  schools  being  managed  from 
the  normal  school  and  taught  chiefly  by  its  graduates. 
In  the  generation  of  its  existence,  the  normal  school  has 
trained  many  leaders  of  thought,  graduating  as  it  has 
many  ministers,  lawyers,  doctors,  and  teachers.  To  its 

[466] 


Biographical  Sketches 

influence  in  thus  training  leading  minds  and  its  advo- 
cacy of  civic  freedom  and  religious  tolerance  the  reform 
movement  in  Turkey  owes  much.  Of  scarcely  inferior 
importance  are  the  services  rendered  by  Mr.  Perry  at 
the  time  of  the  Armenian  massacres  when  thousands  of 
his  parishioners  were  massacred,  when  he  raised  funds 
for  the  founding  of  an  asylum  for  orphans,  more  than 
800  of  whom  were  received  and  cared  for.  A  part  of 
this  scheme  was  the  establishing  of  trade  schools  in  which 
the  orphans  were  taught  and  rendered  self-supporting. 

Mr.  Perry  received  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts  in 
course  from  his  Alma  Mater,  in  1865,  and  at  the  cele- 
bration of  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  his  graduation, 
in  1912,  he  was  honored  with  the  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Divinity. 

Mr.  Perry  was  married  in  Holla,  Missouri,  Septem- 
ber 19,  1866,  to  Jeanne  H.,  adopted  daughter  of  Rev. 
Williston  and  Elizabeth  (Shearer)  Jones.  She  was 
born  in  Cedar  Rapids,  Iowa,  and  was  educated  at  the 
Iowa  State  Normal  School  and  Oxford  Female  Sem- 
inary, Ohio.  She  died  at  Sivas,  Turkey,  May  3,  1884. 
The  Missionary  Herald  of  that  year  contains  an  ap- 
preciative memorial  of  her  life  and  character.  Mr. 
Perry  was  married  again,  December  9,  1891,  to  Mary 
Ellen  Hart  well,  daughter  of  Edmund  and  Eliza 
(Tyler)  Hartwell,  and  descendant  of  William  Hart- 
well,  who  came  from  Kent,  England,  in  1636,  and 
settled  in  Lexington,  Massachusetts.  Before  her  mar- 
riage, Mrs.  Perry  was  connected  with  the  Presbyterian 
Mission  at  Siam.  She  is  spoken  of  as  a  person  of  rare 
excellence  of  character,  and  one  who  has  been  espe- 
cially helpful  both  to  her  husband  and  in  the  mission 
service. 

Of  seven  children  born  to  Mr.  Perry  by  the  first 
marriage,  five  daughters  died  before  their  mother.  A 
son  and  daughter  are  living:  Alvan  Williston  Perry, 

[467] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

broker  and  dealer  in  real  estate,  New  York  City;  and 
Miss  Jeanne  Hannah  Perry,  a  graduate  of  Smith  Col- 
lege in  the  class  of  1909,  a  teacher  of  botany  and  biol- 
ogy in  the  Wolcott  School,  Denver,  Colorado. 

Dr.  and  Mrs.  Perry  are  at  present  (1914)  in  this 
country. 

CLASS  OF  1863 

ALEXANDER  Moss  MERWIN  was  born  September  3, 
1839,  in  Norwalk,  Connecticut,  on  the  farm  and  in  the 
house  where  his  great-grandfather,  coming  from  Wales, 
settled  in  1645.  He  was  the  son  of  Timothy  Taylor  and 
Hannah  Bartow  (White)  Merwin,  of  Danbury,  Con- 
necticut, and  grandson  of  Rev.  Samuel  Merwin  of  Mil- 
ford,  Connecticut,  and  Clarina  Bradley  Taylor  and  of 
Ephraim  Moss  White  of  Danbury,  and  of  Charity 
Tucker,  who  was  of  Dutch  descent.  Mr.  Merwin  traced 
his  descent  through  his  father  from  Miles  Merwin,  who 
came  from  Milford,  Wales,  in  1645,  and  died  at  Mil- 
ford,  Connecticut,  in  1697.  Descendants  of  Miles  Mer- 
win still  live  in  Milford  and  New  Milford.  Through 
his  mother,  Mr.  Merwin  was  descended  from  Thomas 
White,  who  came  from  Weymouth,  England,  to  Wey- 
mouth,  Massachusetts,  and  was  made  a  "freeman"  in 
1635. 

An  ancestor  on  the  mother's  side  was  Joseph  Moss 
(Harvard  1699),  who  received  from  Yale,  in  1702,  the 
honorary  degree  of  Master  of  Arts,  and  was  one  of  the 
Fellows  and  early  benefactors  of  Yale.  The  grand- 
father, Rev.  Samuel  Merwin  of  Milford,  was  graduated 
at  Yale  in  1802,  and  the  father,  Timothy  Taylor  Mer- 
win, was  graduated  at  Yale  in  1827.  Timothy  Taylor 
Merwin  had  a  brother,  Samuel  John  Mills  Merwin,  who 
was  graduated  at  Yale  in  1839.  He  also  had  five  sis- 
ters, all  of  whom  married  graduates  of  colleges,  and 
four  of  them  married  ministers,  one  of  whom  was  Rev. 

[468] 


Biographical  Sketches 

Gordon  Hall,  son  of  the  missionary.  Four  of  these  five 
husbands  were  graduates  of  Yale. 

Rev.  Samuel  Merwin,  the  grandfather  of  Alexander 
Moss  Merwin,  in  1805  became  pastor  of  the  United 
Society  (later  occupying  the  North  Church)  in  New 
Haven,  Connecticut.  This  pastorate  continued  for 
more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century.  Dexter  ("Biograph- 
ical Sketches")  says  of  him:  "Mr.  Merwin  was  a  man 
of  a  remarkably  meek,  gentle,  and  patient  spirit ;  nota- 
bly gifted  in  prayer,  but  considered  a  dull  preacher. 
He  is  commemorated  by  a  tablet  in  the  present  United 
Church  and  by  a  portrait  in  their  Chapel." 

Alexander  Moss  Merwin  fitted  for  college  at  Burr 
and  Burton  Seminary,  Manchester,  Vermont.  He  en- 
tered college  with  the  class  of  1862  and  remained  with 
that  class  nearly  through  the  Sophomore  year,  when  he 
left  college.  After  an  absence  of  some  time  he  returned 
to  college,  entering  the  class  of  1863.  In  college  he  was 
a  member  of  the  Equitable  Fraternity;  of  the  Philo- 
logian  Society;  of  the  Lyceum  of  Natural  History;  of 
the  Williams  Art  Association;  and  of  the  Mills  Society, 
of  which  he  was  treasurer  in  Junior  year  and  the  pres- 
ident the  first  term  of  Senior  year. 

He  received  the  appointment  of  an  Oration,  and 
was  one  of  the  speakers  at  Commencement,  his  subject 
being  "Stoicism." 

After  graduation,  he  entered  Princeton  Theological 
Seminary  and,  after  completing  the  course  there,  was 
ordained  by  the  Presbytery  of  North  River,  June  14, 
1866,  and  the  same  year  went  as  a  missionary,  under  ap- 
pointment of  the  Presbyterian  Board,  to  Valparaiso, 
Chili.  For  a  time  he  took  part  in  the  Spanish  evangel- 
ical work  just  started  in  Santiago,  and  then,  in  1868, 
settled  in  Valparaiso  and  gathered  the  first  Protestant 
congregation  there,  preaching  the  first  Protestant  ser- 
mon in  Spanish  ever  preached  in  Valparaiso.  The  con- 

[469] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

gregation,  which  at  first  consisted  of  not  more  than 
twelve  regular  attendants,  after  fifteen  years  numbered 
nearly  300,  140  of  whom  were  communicants.  The 
church  which  he  then  founded  there  is  still  under  the 
care  of  the  Presbyterian  Board  of  Foreign  Missions. 

He  also  established  a  school  and  home  for  orphan 
children,  and  for  many  years  edited  a  Spanish  period- 
ical, La  Alianza  Evanjelica.  The  school,  home,  and 
paper  are  still  flourishing  under  the  care  of  the  mission 
workers.  After  nineteen  years  of  successful  work  in 
Chili,  on  account  of  failing  health  of  himself  and  family, 
he  moved,  in  1886,  to  Santa  Barbara,  California,  and 
a  year  later  to  Pasadena.  For  a  year  or  so  after  taking 
up  his  residence  in  Pasadena,  he  was  occupied  in  or- 
ganizing three  churches  for  English-speaking  people, 
and  then  became  missionary  among  the  Spanish-speak- 
ing residents  of  Pasadena  and  vicinity,  and  later  was 
superintendent  of  an  important  work  among  the  so- 
called  Mexicans  in  Southern  California,  who  numbered 
about  45,000.  For  seventeen  years  he  was  thus  under 
the  care  of  the  Presbyterian  Board  of  Home  Missions, 
and  these  years  were  full  of  labors  for  the  Spanish- 
speaking  residents  of  California. 

He  died  of  pneumonia  in  Pasadena,  February  2, 
1905.  At  the  time  of  his  death  a  local  paper  said:  "It 
is  doubtful  if  the  loss  of  any  other  man  would  have  stir- 
red the  community  to  more  heartfelt  sorrow.  He  was 
active  not  only  in  his  chosen  profession,  but  in  various 
directions  in  which  men  of  force  and  ability  must  find 
vent  for  their  energies ;  and  he  brought  into  every  rela- 
tion of  life  innate  qualities  of  head  and  heart  that  en- 
deared him  to  all  who  knew  him." 

Mr.  Merwin  received  the  honorary  degree  of  Master 
of  Arts  from  Yale  College  in  1880,  having  taken  the 
same  degree  in  course  from  Williams  in  1866.  He  was 
for  many  years  president  of  the  South  Pasadena  Public 

[470] 


Biographical  Sketches 

Library,  and  also  for  six  years  of  the  Twilight  Club  of 
Pasadena.  He  was  also  chaplain  of  the  Society  of 
Colonial  Wars,  and  a  member  of  the  Society  of  the 
Sons  of  the  Revolution  and  of  the  Society  of  Colonial 
Governors. 

While  in  college  and  the  seminary  he  served  for  a 
time  as  a  substitute  for  chaplains  Hopkins  and  Roe  at 
Alexandria  and  Fortress  Munroe  hospitals ;  he  also  took 
part  in  the  field  work  of  the  Christian  and  Sanitary 
Commissions  at  different  times. 

Mr.  Merwin  was  married  October  3,  1866,  in  Man- 
chester, Vermont,  to  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  William  A. 
and  Mary  J.  (Putnam)  Burnham,  and  granddaughter 
of  Jesse  and  Elizabeth  Putnam. 

Of  five  children  born  of  this  marriage,  two  are  liv- 
ing: Mary  Amelia  Merwin,  missionary  in  Mexican 
work,  and  William  Burnham  Merwin,  a  broker  in  Los 
Angeles,  California.  Mrs.  Merwin  resides  in  Pasa- 
dena, California. 

SAMUEL  SWAIN  MITCHELL,  son  of  Matthew  and 
Susan  (Swain)  Mitchell,  both  of  Nantucket  families, 
was  born  at  Hudson,  New  York,  September  8,  1840. 
He  pursued  his  preparatory  studies  at  different 
schools,  but  the  school  from  which  he  went  directly  to 
college  was  a  private  one  kept  by  Rev.  Mr.  Bradbury, 
at  Hudson.  He  entered  college  as  a  Freshman  in 
1859.  The  class  to  which  he  belonged  was  one  of  the 
larger  ones  of  that  period  and  had  several  members 
who  became  distinguished.  In  college,  he  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Philologian  Literary  Society;  the  Williams 
Art  Association;  Williams  Quartette  Society;  Lyceum 
of  Natural  History;  Mills  Theological  Society.  He 
was  a  disputant  in  the  Adelphic  Union  Debate,  March, 
1863;  was  Toastmaster  at  the  Biennial  Celebration  of 
the  class ;  a  member  of  the  Committee  on  Songs,  Class 

[471] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

Day;  and  during  Senior  year  he  was  one  of  the  editors 
of  the  Williams  Quarterly. 

The  following  extract  is  from  a  letter  written  to  the 
class  secretary  and  published  in  the  report  that  was  is- 
sued twenty  years  after  graduation:  "My  course  since 
leaving  college  has  been  somewhat  as  follows:  Studied 
theology  one  year  at  Auburn  and  two  years  at  Union 
Seminary,  New  York;  served  in  the  Christian  Commis- 
sion; was  or  attempted  to  be  a  missionary  of  A.  B.  C. 
F.  M.  in  Syria,  but  returned  after  one  year  on  finding 
myself  unable  to  endure  the  climate  and  work;  took 
a  church  in  Wisconsin ;  taken  down  with  western  fever ; 
for  two  months  seriously  ill;  on  partial  recovery  went  to 
Germany;  spent  four  years,  dividing  my  time  between 
Tubingen  and  Leipsic  and  travelling,  choosing  by  pref- 
erence the  high  mountain  Alpine  regions.  My  time 
during  this  German  period  was  occupied  with  desultory 
study,  with  an  emphatic  leaning  to  the  Semitic  lan- 
guages and  history  tinged  with  a  flavoring  of  modern 
philosophy,  diversified  by  occasional  indulgence  in  the 
delights  of  poetry  and  general  literature,  as  well  as  ren- 
dered more  varied  by  assiduous  cultivation  of  vocal  and 
instrumental  music."  Finding  the  climate  of  North 
Germany  prejudicial  to  his  wife's  health,  he  removed 
in  the  spring  of  1875  to  Rome,  where  he  devoted  him- 
self to  the  career  of  an  artist,  becoming  a  portrait, 
landscape,  genre,  and  architectural  painter.  He  lived 
abroad  the  most  of  the  time,  the  later  years  of  his  life 
being  spent  in  Spain. 

The  following  is  the  conclusion  of  a  letter  addressed 
by  Mr.  Mitchell  to  the  secretary  of  his  class  and  pub- 
lished in  the  "Fortieth  Year  Report."  "I  have  re- 
ceived no  academic  honors  or  degrees,  belonged  to  no 
clubs,  held  no  official  positions.  I  have  published  no 
books  or  pamphlets,  with  the  exception  of  a  series  of 
letters,  occasionally,  in  the  New  York  Times,  reviewing 

[472] 


Biographical  Sketches 

the  archaeological  publications  of  Germany  and  Italy. 
My  long  sojourn  in  foreign  countries  has  brought  with 
it  a  knowledge  of  various  modern  languages,  and  as 
far  as  my  leisure  would  permit,  aside  from  my 
painting,  I  have  been  able  to  occupy  myself  to  some 
extent,  although  not  exhaustively,  with  the  literary  pro- 
ductions of  the  various  countries.  At  present  I  am  liv- 
ing in  Spain,  interested  in  the  language  of  the  country, 
and  happen  to  have  just  concluded  the  first  volume  of 
'Don  Quixote.'  The  language  is  difficult  and  the  pro- 
nunciation especially  so.  With  regard  to  my  artistic 
work,  the  field  of  art  is  so  broad  and  mastery  of  all  its 
branches  being  an,  impossibility,  I  have  for  some  time 
occupied  myself  mainly  in  studying  and  copying  the 
architectural  monuments  of  the  various  countries  I  have 
been  in,  e.g.,  the  temples  of  Egypt,  and  the  Greek  tem- 
ples in  Southern  Italy;  namely,  those  in  Paestum,  near 
Naples,  and  Girgenti,  in  Sicily.  I  have  been  occupied 
more  recently  with  the  cathedrals  of  Italy,  Germany, 
France,  and,  at  present,  with  those  of  Spain. 

"During  the  short  time  that  I  have  been  in  the  coun- 
try, I  have  copied  the  facade  of  the  magnificent  cathe- 
dral at  Burgos,  in  Northen  Spain,  and  am  at  present 
working  in  the  cloister  of  San  Juan  de  los  Reyes,  at 
Toledo,  one  of  the  glories  of  the  Gothic  architecture  of 
Spain.  I  am  more  and  more  impressed  by  the  inex- 
haustible treasures  in  art  and  literature  which  the 
ancient  civilizations  of  the  world  afford,  and  am  alter- 
nately spurred  on  by  the  inspiring  influences  which 
surround  me,  and  depressed  by  a  sense  of  the  utter  in- 
adequacy of  my  efforts." 

The  preceding  extracts,  which  have  given  an  outline 
of  Mr.  Mitchell's  life,  may  be  supplemented  by  the  fol- 
lowing dates: — he  was  ordained  by  the  Presbytery  at 
Newark,  New  Jersey,  October  3,  1866;  was  a  foreign 
missionary  under  appointment  of  the  American  Board, 

[473] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

at  Abeih,  Syria,  1866-68;  stated  supply  at  Jefferson, 
Wisconsin,  1869-70;  resided  in  Germany  1870-74;  an 
artist  at  Newton  Centre,  Massachusetts,  1875;  artist 
in  Europe  and  United  States,  1876-1904. 

On  returning  to  this  country  in  1904,  Mr.  Mitchell 
was  taken  sick  on  the  steamer,  and  died  at  a  hospital 
in  New  York,  on  December  7,  of  that  year. 

He  was  married  April  3,  1867,  at  Poughkeepsie, 
New  York,  to  Miss  Lucy  Myers  Wright,  daughter  of 
Rev.  Austin  Hazen  Wright,  M.D.  (Dartmouth  1830), 
and  Mrs.  Catharine  (Myers)  Wright,  missionaries 
at  Urumia,  Persia.  Dr.  Wright  had  a  long  period 
of  useful  service  as  a  missionary  in  Persia,  where  his 
labors  were  those  of  a  preacher,  physician,  and  trans- 
lator. He  was  eminent  also  as  a  linguist,  having  a 
perfect  acquaintance  with  the  Turkish,  Syriac,  and 
Persian  languages.  Mrs.  Mitchell,  the  daughter,  was  a 
lady  of  superior  talents  and  of  fine  literary  and  artistic 
tastes.  In  1883,  she  published  a  work  of  great  merit 
on  the  "History  of  Ancient  Sculpture,"  also  a  series 
of  articles  on  Greek  Sculpture  in  the  Century  Maga- 
zine. She  died  March  10,  1888.  They  had  no 
children. 

Professor  John  Henry  Wright  (Dartmouth  1873), 
formerly  Professor  of  Greek  and  Dean  of  the  Graduate 
School  in  Harvard  University,  was  her  brother. 

ALFRED  OTIS  TREAT,  fourth  son  of  Rev.  Selah  Burr 
and  Abigail  (Peters)  Treat,  and  grandson  of  Selah 
and  Anna  (Williams)  Treat,  was  born  at  Newark, 
New  Jersey,  February  28,  1840.  The  father  was 
graduated  at  Yale  in  the  class  of  1824,  studied  law  and 
practiced  it  as  a  profession  for  seven  years,  and  then 
studied  theology  at  Andover.  He  was  for  four  years 
pastor  of  the  Third  Presbyterian  Church  at  Newark, 
New  Jersey,  and  then,  compelled  by  ill  health  to  leave 

[474] 


Biographical  Sketches 

that  position,  he  became  associate  editor  with  Dr.  Ab- 
salom Peters,  of  the  Biblical  Repository  and  American 
Eclectic.  In  1843,  he  took  editorial  charge  of  the 
Missionary  Herald  and  the  Youths  Day  spring,  and 
in  1847,  was  elected  one  of  the  Corresponding  Secre- 
taries of  the  American  Board.  It  was  in  this  position 
that  he  performed  his  most  important  life-work,  being 
connected  with  the  Board  for  thirty-four  years.  At 
the  time  of  his  death  in  1877,  the  Prudential  Commit- 
tee passed  a  Minute,  from  which  the  following  extract 
is  taken:  "His  practical  wisdom,  sound  judgment, 
and  well-balanced  character  secured  him  not  only  the 
highest  respect  and  esteem  in  the  more  immediate 
sphere  of  his  labors,  but  made  him  the  trusted  friend 
and  counselor  of  many  in  other  walks  of  life.  Modest 
and  unassuming  in  manner,  it  was  only  those  who 
knew  him  best  that  most  fully  appreciated  his  wide  his- 
torical knowledge,  his  fund  of  illustrative  anecdote, 
and  the  soundness  and  accuracy  of  his  judgment."  A 
striking  illustration  of  his  remarkable  modesty  was 
given  when  he  declined  the  honor  of  the  degree  of  Doc- 
tor of  Divinity  which  had  been  conferred  on  him  by 
Rutgers  College.  He  married  a  daughter  of  Judge 
Peters,  of  Hartford,  with  whom  he  had  studied  law  for 
a  time. 

The  son  fitted  for  college  at  the  Boston  Latin 
School,  and,  with  a  younger  brother,  entered  college 
as  a  Freshman  in  the  fall  of  1859.  He  was  spoken  of 
by  his  classmates  and  friends  as  quiet  and  unassuming 
in  demeanor,  and  kind  in  disposition.  He  engaged  in 
various  college  activities.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
Alpha  Delta  Phi  Fraternity;  of  the  Philotechnian  So- 
ciety, in  which,  at  different  times,  he  held  the  offices  of 
vice-president,  secretary,  and  library  committee;  he 
also  belonged  to  the  Lyceum  of  Natural  History;  to 
the  Glee  Club;  Williams  Quartette;  the  Thespian  So- 

[475] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

ciety,  in  which  he  was  at  different  times  president,  sec- 
retary, and  treasurer;  he  was  also  a  director  in  the 
Reading  Room  Association,  and  was  Prophet  at  the 
Class  Day  Exercises. 

Among  his  classmates  were  several  who  became  em- 
inent in  after  life.  Of  these  may  be  named  John 
G.  Davenport,  Samuel  W.  Dike,  Addison  P.  Foster, 
James  C.  Foye,  A.  Lawrence  Hopkins,  Daniel  Mer- 
riam,  John  B.  Morley,  Henry  D.  Nicoll,  Leverett  W. 
Spring. 

After  leaving  college,  he  studied  medicine  in  the 
Bellevue  Hospital  Medical  College,  New  York  City, 
at  which  he  was  graduated  in  1866. 

For  a  short  time  during  the  Civil  War  he  was  As- 
sistant Surgeon  in  the  Third  New  York  Volunteer  Cav- 
alry. After  leaving  the  medical  school  he  had  some 
medical  service  in  the  New  York  Hospital  and  spent 
some  time,  also,  in  the  study  of  theology.  On  Sep- 
tember 21,  1867,  he  sailed  from  New  York  for  Shang- 
hai, under  the  auspices  of  the  American  Board,  to  join 
the  North  China  Mission  as  a  missionary  physician. 
He  reached  Shanghai  November  14,  and  Peking  De- 
cember 6,  seventy-six  days  from  New  York.  His  first 
letter  home  spoke  of  the  "great  joy  and  thankfulness" 
with  which  he  took  his  place  among  the  missionary  la- 
borers in  Peking.  Hon.  S.  Wells  Williams  wrote  con- 
cerning Dr.  Treat,  to  his  father:  "I  congratulate  you 
on  having  a  son  who  is  so  willing  to  carry  out  your  own 
views,  and  seems  likely  to  enter  into  the  work  with 
faith  and  patience.  He  has  an  open  door  for  useful- 
ness among  the  sick  and  sinful  in  this  region,  and  our 
best  wishes  for  long  service  in  the  vineyard.  It  is  a 
warning  note  to  me,  of  the  drawing  nigh  of  the  eventide 
of  life,  to  see  one  of  the  boys  who,  in  1845,  was  around 
your  table  in  Tremont  Street,  thinking  chiefly  of  hard 
lessons  contrasted  with  jolly  play,  coming  suddenly  to 

[476] 


Biographical  Sketches 

view  as  a  co-worker  in  mission  plans,  in  the  far-off  city. 
I  hope  the  churches  in  the  United  States  will  send  hun- 
dreds of  their  best  youths,  to  elevate  the  Chinese  to  be 
the  true  'Celestials'  in  Christ  Jesus." 

Dr.  Treat  was  sent  out  for  a  term  of  five  years,  but 
remained  six  years  and  a  half,  doing  most  faithful  serv- 
ice. He  was  stationed  for  a  time  at  Peking  and  also 
at  Tientsin.  In  1870  he  with  Rev.  Chauncey  Good- 
rich (Williams  1861),  who  had  been  a  college  mate  for 
two  years,  and  Rev.  Isaac  Pierson  (Yale  1866),  opened 
up  a  new  station  at  Yu  Chou,  120  miles  west  of  Peking. 
Dr.  Treat  and  Mr.  Goodrich  had  previously  made  a 
tentative  visit  to  this  place  and  had  been  cheered  by  the 
marked  intelligence  of  the  natives  to  investigate  the 
doctrine  the  missionaries  came  to  tell  them;  while  peo- 
ple came  not  only  from  various  sections  of  the  city,  but 
from  towns  and  villages  at  considerable  distance  to  ob- 
tain medicine  and  avail  themselves  of  Dr.  Treat's  med- 
ical skill.  During  the  five  weeks  of  this  preliminary 
visit,  about  250  cases  came  under  Dr.  Treat's  medical 
care.  In  a  few  months  a  church  nearly  as  large  as  that 
at  Tientsin  was  organized,  a  dispensary  was  opened 
and  a  training  school  for  helpers  started.  In  the  midst 
of  these  abundant  labors,  in  which  he  was  meeting  with 
great  success,  he  was  constrained  by  ill  health,  in  1874, 
to  return  to  this  country,  and  to  his  father's  home,  but 
with  the  hope  of  returning  to  his  work  in  China,  in 
which  he  had  become  greatly  interested.  The  follow- 
ing extract  is  taken  from  the  "Fortieth  Year  Report" 
of  his  class:  "However,  before  his  complete  recovery 
his  mother's  health  failed,  and  not  long  after  his  father 
died,  and  his  duty  was  plainly  indicated.  He  devoted 
time  and  strength,  the  latter  not  fully  regained,  to  the 
care  of  his  invalid  mother.  His  own  health  was  never 
reestablished.  By  1880  he  was  rapidly  declining.  In 
May  of  that  year  he  went  to  the  Adirondack  plateau, 

[477] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

but  in  June,  after  a  short  row  upon  the  lake  at  Lucerne, 
New  York,  he  was  seized  with  a  hemmorhage  of  the 
lungs,  and  died  the  next  morning,  June  20,  1880.  'So 
his  life/  writes  his  brother  and  classmate,  Charles,  'was 
spent,  though  prematurely,  as  it  seemed  to  our  vision, 
yet  brightly  and  beautifully.  He  said  little,  but  acted 
well  his  part,  and  when  the  end  came  it  found  him 
ready  and  glad  to  go.'  He  never  married." 

Dr.  Treat  had  various  letters  published  in  the  Mis- 
sionary Herald,,  for  which  he  also  wrote  a  series  of  sci- 
entific and  illustrated  papers  on  "The  Great  Wall  of 
China";  "The  Altar  to  Heaven";  "Japan";  "Peking"; 
and  "The  Tung-Chou  Pagoda." 


CLASS  OF  1864 

ALPHEUS  NEWELL  ANDRUS,  son  of  Roderick  Clark 
and  Fanny  Roxana  (Upson)  Andrus,  was  born  in 
New  York  City,  July  17,  1843.  The  immigrant  an- 
cestors of  Mr.  Andrus  came  from  Scotland  and  settled 
in  Connecticut.  His  father  was  a  merchant.  His  par- 
ents were  industrious,  economical,  eminently  pious, 
faithful  workers  in  the  church,  and  generous  givers  to 
the  cause  of  Christ.  The  circumstances  and  influence 
of  the  home  life  were  peculiarly  pleasant  and  happy. 
While  the  family  means  were  moderate,  the  tastes  of 
the  members  of  the  household  were  intellectual.  The 
training  and  influences  of  the  home  life  were  promotive 
of  the  best  virtues, — spirituality,  cheerfulness,  regular- 
ity, orderliness,  neatness,  helpfulness  of  others,  and 
loyalty  to  duty  in  all  things. 

Mr.  Andrus  fitted  for  college  at  College  Hill  (now 
Riverview)  Academy,  Poughkeepsie,  New  York,  and 
entered  college  as  a  JPreshman  in  1860.  Among  his 
classmates  were  Henry  M.  Booth,  Timothy  J.  Darling, 
Francis  T.  Ingalls,  Charles  C.  Tracy,  John  L.  R. 

[478] 


Biographical  Sketches 

Trask.  During  his  college  course  he  often  engaged  in 
teaching.  He  also  engaged  in  a  variety  of  college  ac- 
tivities. He  was  a  member  of  the  Mills  Theological 
Society,  of  which  he  was  for  a  time  recording  secre- 
tary; of  the  Philologian  Society,  for  which  he  was  one 
of  the  disputants  in  the  Adelphic  Union  Debate  Oc- 
tober 21,  1863;  he  was  one  of  the  speakers  at  the  Prize 
Rhetorical  Exhibition  August  5,  1862;  he  was  for  a 
time  secretary  and  treasurer  and  one  of  the  directors 
of  the  Athletic  Baseball  Club ;  one  of  the  standing  com- 
mittee of  the  Rip-Raps  Baseball  Club;  and  a  member 
of  the  Committee  of  Arrangements  for  Class  Day. 
He  was  a  successful  student  and  was  one  of  the  speak- 
ers at  Commencement,  the  subject  of  his  oration  being 
"National  Eloquence."  On  graduation  he  entered 
Union  Theological  Seminary,  from  which  he  was  grad- 
uated in  1867,  after  which  he  remained  in  the  seminary 
six  months  pursuing  post-graduate  studies. 

On  April  25,  1868,  he  with  his  wife  sailed  from 
New  York,  under  appointment  of  the  American  Board, 
to  join  the  mission  to  Eastern  Turkey.  He  landed  in 
Constantinople,  May,  1868,  reached  Harpoot  in  June, 
and  Mardin,  the  station  to  which  he  was  assigned,  No- 
vember 20.  At  that  time  Mardin  was  the  southernmost 
station  of  the  mission.  It  is  one  of  the  chief  cities  in 
the  province  of  Kurdistan,  in  Asiatic  Turkey,  and  is 
built  high  up  on  the  southern  and  eastern  slopes  of  one 
of  the  highest  peaks  of  the  Ante-Taurus  range  of  moun- 
tains that  forms  the  northern  boundary  of  Mesopota- 
mia. It  is  uncertain  when  or  by  whom  the  city  was 
founded.  Tradition  relates  that  in  the  latter  part  of 
the  fourteenth  century  it  successfully  resisted  for  three 
years,  the  repeated  attacks  of  Tamerlane.  The  fol- 
lowing description  of  the  city  is  given  by  Mr.  Andrus : 
"The  city,  as  at  present  located,  is  1600  feet  above  the 
vast  plains  of  Mesopotamia,  which  srtretch  out,  with  an 

[479] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

almost  unbroken  level,  to  the  southeast,  south,  and 
southwest.  The  houses  are  for  the  most  part  built  in 
terraces  one  above  another,  so  that  the  roof  of  one  forms 
the  yard  to  that  which  is  above  it.  The  city  is  not  very 
broad,  yet  the  hill  is  so  steep  that  not  infrequently  snow 
will  fall  in  the  upper  portions  while  it  is  raining  in  the 
lower  wards.  Although  so  lifted  up  above  the  plains, 
yet  in  the  summer  the  city  suffers  from  its  nearness  to 
them.  They  are  very  hot  through  the  day,  but  in  the 
night  there  is  usually  a  cool  breeze  blowing  over  them. 
The  heated  air  rises  and  is  driven  against  these  moun- 
tain slopes  upon  which  the  city  rests.  The  result  of 
this  is  a  tendency  to  uniformity  of  temperature  day  and 
night."  It  is  spoken  of  as  a  healthy  place  with  no 
malaria.  The  population  of  the  city  in  1875  was  some- 
thing over  16,000,  distributed  among  a  half  dozen  dif- 
ferent sects.  The  language  of  the  city  is  chiefly  Arabic, 
though  Kurdish  and  Turkish  are  used  in  some  trans- 
actions. About  a  year  before  the  arrival  of  Mr.  Andrus 
a  church  of  nineteen  members  was  organized  upon  a 
self-supporting  basis,  and  a  school  established.  In  the 
spring  of  1869  a  theological  class  was  formed  under  the 
tuition  of  Mr.  Andrus  and  two  associates.  Shortly 
after  this  he  was  left  in  sole  charge  of  the  field  and  the 
Theological  Seminary.  His  work  of  an  educational 
and  evangelical  nature  took  him  often  to  out-stations 
and  more  distant  towns.  In  the  Missionary  Herald  for 
1870  is  an  account  of  his  visit  to  Sert,  where  there  was  a 
church  standing  "alone  in  the  midst  of  surrounding 
darkness,"  and  where  he  had  a  most  cordial  welcome. 
Two  years  later  he  made  a  tour  of  much  interest  to 
Diarbekir,  and  thence  to  Redwan  and  other  places  in  the 
Kurdish  mountain  portion  of  the  field,  one  object  of  the 
tour  being  to  look  into  the  wants  of  the  Arabic  speak- 
ing villages  dependent  on  Sert.  The  Missionary  Her- 
aid  for  1877  contains  an  interesting  communication 

[480] 


Biographical  Sketches 

from  Mr.  Andrus  entitled  "The  Missing  Link,"  which 
was  really  an  appeal  for  the  establishment  of  a  mission 
station  at  Bagdad.  Somewhat  later  he  spent  a  winter 
in  making  extended  observations  in  Mosul  and  Bag- 
dad. The  "long  and  able  report"  which  he  gave  to  the 
mission  of  the  missionary  efforts  at  Bagdad  led  the 
Prudential  Committee  of  the  Board  to  seek  for  two  men 
to  send  to  that  field.  The  annual  report  for  1879 
spoke  of  the  evangelical  work  in  three  villages  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Midyat,  and  of  the  addition  in  those 
villages  of  700  to  the  number  of  Protestant  souls,  while 
seven  other  villages  asked  for  missionaries.  In  1892, 
Mr.  Andrus  reports  an  extended  visit  to  a  district 
called  S  her  wan,  lying  east  of  Sert,  a  region  heretofore 
unexplored  by  our  missionaries.  This  journey  cov- 
ered more  than  500  miles  and  occupied  forty-two  days. 
In  1894  he  writes  from  Midyat:  "Last  year  I  was 
away  246  days  out  of  365  and  travelled  on  horseback 
1395  miles.  This  year  so  far  I  have  been  at  home  just 
ten  days,  and  am  now  on  a  tour  through  this  mountain 
and  then  on  to  Sert."  To  aid  him  in  his  work  among 
the  people  of  these  regions,  he  commenced,  about  this 
time,  a  transliteration  into  Arabo-Kurdish  of  the 
Armeno-Kurdish  Gospel  of  Matthew.  In  1896  Mr. 
Andrus  had  much  to  do  with  the  general  relief  work 
among  those  who  had  suffered  from  the  massacres,  as 
many  as  20,000  people  being  thus  aided.  In  Septem- 
ber of  this  year  there  was  opened  at  Mardin  an  orphan- 
age, with  which  Mr.  Andrus  had  much  to  do.  In  the 
first  two  years  this  institution  cared  for  over  100  or- 
phans who  had  been  carefully  selected  from  thirty-four 
places. 

It  will  be  seen  that  while  Mr.  Andrus'  labors  have 
been  multifarious,  they  have  been  largely  evangelical 
and  educational.  In  his  forty-six  years  of  service,  he 
has  seen  the  establishment  in  his  field  of  numerous 

[481] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

churches  and  schools  of  various  grades,  and  both 
churches  and  schools  have  been  generally  prosperous. 
On  the  occasion  of  the  celebration  of  the  twenty-fifth 
anniversary  of  the  first  evangelical  church  at  Mardin 
in  1893,  there  was  reported  a  membership  of  over  200, 
a  Sabbath-school  of  about  the  same  number,  a  congre- 
gation of  500,  while  the  gifts  for  educational  and  reli- 
gious purposes  for  twenty-five  years  amounted  to  over 
$13,000. 

Of  especial  importance  also  has  been  Mr.  Andrus' 
work  in  connection  with  the  Theological  Seminary  at 
Mardin.  For  the  years  1875-87  he  was  chiefly  engaged 
in  giving  instruction  in  this  institution  in  Biblical  in- 
terpretation, evidences  of  Christianity,  and  systematic 
theology.  Students  from  this  seminary  have  gone  forth 
to  occupy  prominent  positions  and  to  exert  a  strong 
religious  influence  in  various  parts  of  the  Turkish 
Empire. 

Mr.  Andrus  has  also  written  much  for  the  Mission- 
ary Herald,  and  by  his  letters  and  illuminating  articles 
has  done  much  to  enlighten  the  American  churches  as 
to  affairs  in  Turkey.  Worthy  of  mention  here  are  his 
papers  on  "Oppression  in  Turkey,"  "Concerning  the 
Yezidees,"  and  "Impressions  from  a  Missionary  Ex- 
perience of  Twenty-five  Years." 

In  his  long  period  of  service,  Mr.  Andrus  has  al- 
ways manifested  a  spirit  of  wise  aggressiveness,  while 
his  sound  judgment  and  courage  in  the  face  of  difficul- 
ties and  dangers  have  made  him  a  most  valued  mem- 
ber of  the  mission. 

As  he  has  already  passed  the  age  of  three  score  and 
ten  years  and  looks  back  upon  nearly  a  half-century  of 
work  at  Mardin,  he  stands  forth  as  one  of  the  veterans 
of  the  whole  missionary  corps.  A  missionary  class- 
mate says  of  him  that  he  has  done  "the  bravest  of  work 
in  the  hardest  of  fields."  Still  able  to  do  efficient  work, 

[482] 


George  Cook  Raynolds 
Chauncey  Goodrich 
Charles  Chapin  Tracy 


Alpheus  Newell  Andrus 
Henry  Thomas  Perry 
George  Thomas  Washburn 


MISSIONARIES   NOW   LIVING    (1914)    WHOSE   TERMS    OF    SERVICE    IN    EACH 
CASE    EXCEED    FORTY    YEARS 


Biographical  Sketches 

he  is  an  illustration  of  the  Old  Testament  blessing, 
"They  shall  still  bring  forth  fruit  in  old  age." 

In  the  period  of  his  service  he  has  visited  the 
United  States  three  times,  1874,  1887,  and  1900. 

The  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity  was  conferred 
upon  him  in  absentia  by  his  Alma  Mater  in  1914. 

He  was  married  in  Jewett,  Greene  County,  New 
York,  March  26,  1868,  to  Miss  Louisa  Morse,  daugh- 
ter of  Justin  and  Luna  Morse.  She  died  December 
29,  1873.  He  was  married,  secondly,  in  Toledo,  Ohio, 
September,  1875,  to  Miss  Olive  L.  Parmalee,  a  mis- 
sionary teacher  at  Mardin,  daughter  of  William  and 
Laura  Parmalee. 

Of  four  children  born  to  him,  two  are  living  and 
reside  in  New  York  City :  Miss  Harriet  L.  An- 
drus,  a  deaconess,  and  Miss  Clara  Morse  Andrus,  a 
stenographer. 

Mr.  Andrus  has  aided  in  the  preparation  and 
printing  of  an  Armeno- Kurdish  Hymn-book,  and 
the  translation  and  transliteration  of  the  Gospel  of 
Matthew  from  the  Armeno-Kurdish  to  the  Arabo- 
Kurdish. 

CHARLES  CIIAPIN  TRACY,  son  of  Orramel  and  Cyn- 
thia (Kellogg)  Tracy,  and  grandson  of  Nehemiah  and 
Lucy  (Olmsted)  Tracy  and  of  Samuel  and  Sarah 
(Rogers)  Kellogg,  was  born  in  East  Smithfield,  Brad- 
ford County,  Pennsylvania,  October  31,  1838.  His 
grandfather  Tracy  was  born  in  East  Haddam,  Con- 
necticut, and  his  grandfather  Kellogg  and  his  mother 
were  born  in  Vermont.  The  Tracy  family  is  descended 
from  Lieutenant  Thomas  Tracy,  who  emigrated  from 
England  and  settled  in  Norwich,  Connecticut,  in  1660. 
The  ancestors  of  Thomas  Tracy,  the  de  Tracys  of  Tod- 
dington,  England,  lived  on  the  same  estate  700  years. 
Sir  William  de  Tracy  married  Godiva,  granddaughter 

[483] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

of  King  Alfred.  There  were  numerous  knights  in  the 
family. 

Charles  Chapin  Tracy  is  a  relative  of  the  mission- 
ary, Rev.  William  Tracy,  D.D.,  who  was  sometime  a 
member  of  the  class  of  1833  at  Williams,  and  who  had 
three  sons  graduate  here,  two  in  the  class  of  1866,  and 
one,  a  missionary,  in  the  class  of  1874. 

The  father  of  Charles  Chapin  Tracy  was  a  pioneer 
farmer,  and  was  a  man  remarkable  for  his  generosity, 
and  one  who  lived  peaceably  with  all  men.  The  mother 
was  a  woman  of  marked  piety  and  of  heroic  spirit.  His 
mother  died  when  he  was  fourteen  years  of  age  and 
his  father  died  four  years  later. 

Mr.  Tracy  prepared  himself  for  college,  learning 
Latin  and  Greek  alone,  in  the  interim  of  work  on  the 
farm,  and  entered  college  as  a  Junior  in  1862.  In  col- 
lege he  was  a  member  of  the  Philologian  Society,  of 
which  he  was  secretary  one  quarter,  and  for  which,  in 
the  Adelphic  Union  Exhibition,  March  2,  1864,  he  was 
one  of  the  disputants;  he  was  a  member  of  the  Mills 
Theological  Society,  of  which  he  was  vice-president  two 
terms;  and  also  a  member  of  the  Athletic  Baseball  Club. 
He  was  both  Poet  and  Historian  on  Class  Day.  He 
was  an  assiduous  and  successful  student,  and  was  grad- 
uated with  Phi  Beta  Kappa  rank.  At  Commencement 
he  read  the  "^Esthetical"  Poem.  On  graduation  he  en- 
tered Union  Theological  Seminary,  where  he  spent 
three  years,  graduating  in  1867.  On  July  17  of  the 
same  year  he  was  ordained  by  Presbytery,  and  on  the 
24th  of  the  following  month,  he  sailed  with  his  wife 
from  New  York  for  Liverpool,  under  the  appointment 
of  the  American  Board  as  a  missionary  to  Western 
Turkey.  He  was  at  first  located  at  Marsovan,  350 
miles  east  of  Constantinople.  His  first  work  was  with 
theological  training  classes.  After  two  and  a  half 
years  he  was  called  to  Constantinople,  where  he  was 

[484] 


Biographical  Sketches 

engaged  in  literary  work  and  preaching,  till  1873,  when 
he  was  recalled  to  the  seminary. 

In  view  of  the  long  period  of  useful  service  which 
Mr.  Tracy  was  destined  to  render  in  Turkey,  it  will  be 
interesting  here  to  read  his  first  impression  as  given  in 
a  letter  of  date  November  16,  1867.  "This  is  Turkey," 
he  writes,  "as  it  presents  itself  to  me:  selfishness  pre- 
vails, truth  and  righteousness  are  trampled  upon 
wherever  people  dare  to  do  it.  Extortion,  inefficiency, 
folly,  bribery,  oppression,  bear  the  name  of  government. 
Right,  separate  from  self-interest,  is  an  idea  that  has 
not  yet  dawned  upon  the  Turk.  A  moral  torpor  pre- 
vails; the  hand  of  justice  is  palsied.  Temporal  inter- 
ests are  in  no  better  condition.  The  moral  basis  of  com- 
merce is  wanting.  The  seller  always  asks  twice  what 
he  expects  to  take,  and  gives  goods  worse  than  his  sam- 
ples. The  buyer  offers  half  what  he  expects  to  give. 
Every  one  is  as  dishonest  as  he  can  be  under  the 
circumstances.  .  .  . 

"If  you  wish  to  know  how  we  feel,  I  will  thus  ex- 
press it, — We  are  satisfied.  The  field  is  great  enough ; 
the  work  extensive  enough;  the  sense  of  our  Master's 
approval  encouragement  enough. 

"The  plain  of  Marsovan  is  beautiful;  the  ring  of 
mountains  around  is  grand ;  the  air  is  as  fine  and  health- 
ful as  that  of  New  England.  I  thank  God  that  we  are 
here,  and  that  I  am  not  engaged  in  a  scramble  after  a 
pulpit  in  America.  We  have  few  friends,  but  they  are 
very  dear,  and  thus  far  we  are  happy.  We  wish  con- 
tinued remembrance  in  your  prayers." 

While  Dr.  Tracy  has  had  wide  experience  in  the 
performance  of  a  great  variety  of  missionary  labors, 
such  as  preaching,  itinerating,  establishing  churches, 
organizing  Sunday-schools,  building  houses  of  worship, 
his  great  and  distinctive  work  has  been  in  the  line  of 
education,  particularly  in  connection  with  the  found- 

[  4.85  ] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

ing  and  developing  of  Anatolia  College,  of  which  he 
was  until  recently  president.  The  history  of  this  insti- 
tution would  be  largely  a  record  of  Dr.  Tracy's  life 
work. 

Anatolia  College,  whose  development  owes  so  much 
to  the  efforts  of  Dr.  Tracy  and  which  has  recently 
passed  the  twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  its  founding,  is 
one  of  the  most  important  of  the  higher  institutions 
under  the  care  of  the  American  Board.  It  has  ten 
nationalities  represented  in  its  list  of  students,  among 
them  being  Russians,  Roumanians,  Macedonians,  and 
Egyptians. 

A  report  rendered  in  1908,  when  the  college  was 
twenty-two  years  old,  stated  that  1540  young  men  had 
been  connected  with  it,  of  whom  226  had  been  grad- 
uated, and  that  about  300  were  then  in  attendance.  Its 
standard  of  scholarship  is  high,  and  the  instruction 
given  is  distinctly  religious.  In  vacations  these  stu- 
dents go  forth  into  various  parts  of  the  East  carrying 
with  them  the  light  and  knowledge  of  the  gospel,  thus 
exemplifying  the  motto  of  the  college:  "The  Morn- 
ing Cometh."  The  college  needs  and  deserves  a  goodly 
sum  for  endowment  and  the  erection  of  buildings. 
That  the  college  merits  the  help  of  the  Christian 
wealth  of  America,  is  evidenced  by  the  fact  that  it  was 
the  first  missionary  college  selected  to  be  aided  by  Dr. 
D.  K.  Pearsons.  The  college  has  commended  itself 
by  its  work  not  only  to  the  people  but  to  the  Govern- 
ment, which  some  twelve  years  ago  established  the  col- 
lege by  a  firman.  It  has  already  proved  a  mighty 
agency  in  the  regeneration  of  modern  Turkey.  In  an 
article  on  "Anatolia  College,"  printed  in  the  Mission- 
ary Herald  for  1903,  Dr.  Tracy  enumerated  the  fol- 
lowing among  the  results  obtained:  The  students 
generally  graduate  with  the  love  of  Christ  in  their 
hearts  and  the  determination  to  devote  their  lives  to 

[486] 


Biographical  Sketches 

his  service;  at  least  a  sixth  of  the  graduates  become 
ministers  of  the  gospel  and  about  a  third  become  teach- 
ers; those  who  become  physicians  or  merchants,  or  fol- 
low other  professions,  generally  take  rank  far  ahead 
of  others  in  the  same  pursuits,  both  as  concerns  ability 
and  moral  character;  almost  all  the  Christian  laborers 
in  the  Marsovan  field,  as  well  as  in  many  other  fields 
far  and  near,  have  come  from  the  college  and  the  girls' 
boarding-school;  and  besides  these  results  there  is  a 
widely  pervasive  influence  of  the  college,  which  refuses 
to  be  put  in  statistical  form. 

Anatolia  College,  however,  is  but  one  of  a  group  of 
institutions  included  in  one  compound.  Within  the 
forty  acres  of  land  belonging  to  the  mission,  are 
situated  also  the  girls'  school,  the  high  school,  the  Ana- 
tolia college  hospital,  the  orphanages,  and  the  theo- 
logical school,  which  is  really  the  parent  of  the  college. 
To  say  nothing  of  the  influence  radiating  far  beyond, 
the  power  of  the  college  is  immediately  decisive  for 
good  in  a  tract  of  country  comprising  nearly  80,000 
square  miles. 

On  account  of  health,  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Tracy  spent 
the  period  1875-78  in  this  country.  Subsequent  visits 
to  this  country  were  made  in  1891,  1902,  and  1914. 

After  almost  a  half-century  of  faithful  service,  in 
which  they  have  "experienced  the  rigors  of  toil,  the  per- 
ils of  famine,  pestilence,  and  massacre,  and  borne  the 
burden  of  heavy  responsibility,"  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Tracy 
still  find  themselves  in  almost  full  strength  at  three 
score  and  fifteen.  Until  his  recent  resignation,  Dr. 
Tracy  presided  with  efficiency  over  the  institution  he 
has  done  so  much  to  establish  and  develop.  When,  a 
few  years  ago,  there  was  celebrated  the  completion  of 
forty  years  of  service,  along  with  the  fortieth  anniver- 
sary of  his  marriage  and  his  seventieth  birthday,  the 
proceedings  showed  in  how  great  esteem  Dr.  and  Mrs. 

[487] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

Tracy  are  held  by  the  members  of  the  mission  and  the 
natives. 

He  was  married  August  14,  1867,  at  Athens,  Penn- 
sylvania, to  Myra  A.,  daughter  of  Chester  and  Lemira 
(Fish)  Park,  granddaughter  of  Jabez  and  Susanna 
(Dana)  Fish  and  Moses  and  Mary  (Spalding)  Park, 
and  a  descendant  of  Robert  Park.  Susanna  Dana  was 
daughter  of  Colonel  Anderson  Dana,  who  perished  with 
the  troops  he  commanded  at  the  massacre  of  Wyoming, 
1778. 

Of  eight  children  born  to  them,  three  are  living: 
Charles  Kellogg  Tracy,  missionary  at  Smyrna,  Tur- 
key; Henry  Chester  Tracy,  Professor  of  Botany  and 
Agriculture,  Hollywood,  Los  Angeles,  California; 
and  Mary  Theodora  Tracy,  teacher  at  Marsovan,  Tur- 
key in  Asia. 

Besides  frequent  letters,  Dr.  Tracy  has  contributed 
to  the  Missionary  Herald  numerous  illuminating  arti- 
cles, among  which  may  be  mentioned,  "The  Greek 
Work  in  the  Marsovan  District";  "Anatolia  College 
as  an  Evangelizing  Agency";  "Missions  of  the  Amer- 
ican Board  in  Asiatic  Turkey" ;  "Matters  New  and  Old 
in  the  Levant";  "The  Outlook  for  Christ  in  Asiatic 
Turkey."  Besides  these  he  has  published,  "The  Fam- 
ily" (Constantinople,  1872)  ;  "Myra"  (Boston,  1877)  ; 
"Talks  on  the  Veranda"  (Boston,  1893) ;  "Notes  on 
Hebrews";  also  many  brochures,  hymns,  etc. 

Dr.  Tracy  received  from  his  Alma  Mater  the  degree 
of  Master  of  Arts  in  course,  in  1867,  and  the  honorary 
degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity  in  1894. 


CLASS  OF  1865 

THOMAS  LAFON  GULICK  was  born  on  missionary 
ground  and  belonged  to  a  missionary  family,  his  father 
and  five  brothers  and  sisters  being  missionaries.  He 

[488] 


Biographical  Sketches 

was  born  at  Koloa,  Kauai,  Hawaiian  Islands,  April 
10,  1839.  He  was  the  son  of  Rev.  Peter  Johnson  and 
Fanny  Hinckley  (Thomas)  Gulick,  and  grandson  of 
John  Gulick,  who  was  a  farmer  in  Freehold,  New  Jer- 
sey. He  was  descended,  on  the  father's  side,  from 
Hendrick  Gulick,  who  came  to  New  York  from  the 
Netherlands  in  1653.  Rev.  Peter  Johnson  Gulick, 
the  father,  was  a  missionary  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands 
1828-1874.  He  died  at  Kobe,  Japan,  in  1877.  The 
mother,  who  was  daughter  of  a  farmer  of  Scotch 
and  English  ancestry,  was  a  native  of  Lebanon,  Con- 
necticut. The  father  is  described  as  being  strong  and 
decisive  in  action,  while  the  mother  was  reflective, 
thoughtful,  and  well  poised  in  character.  Of  their 
eight  children,  six  were  at  one  and  the  same  time  in  the 
service  of  the  American  Board, — four  in  Japan  and 
two  in  Spain.  One  brother  of  the  subject  of  our 
sketch — John  Thomas  Gulick,  missionary  to  China  and 
Japan — was  graduated  here  in  1859.  The  name  of 
Gulick  has  been  associated  with  American  missions  for 
more  than  four  score  years. 

Thomas  Lafon  Gulick  had  studied  at  Oahu  and  Rut- 
gers Colleges  before  coming  to  Williams,  which  he 
entered  as  a  Junior  in  1863.  In  college  he  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Mills  Theological  Society;  of  the  Philologian 
Society,  of  which  he  was  for  a  time  president,  and  for 
which  he  was  one  of  the  disputants  at  the  Adelphic 
Union  Exhibition;  was  a  speaker  at  the  Prize  Rhetori- 
cal Exhibition,  August  2,  1864;  was  a  member  of  the 
Williams  Art  Association,  and  curator  of  the  Sunrise 
Club;  and  was  Orator  to  the  Lower  Classes  on  Class 
Day.  He  was  a  successful  student,  graduating  with 
Phi  Beta  Kappa  rank,  and  at  Commencement  had  an 
Honorary  Oration,  the  subject  being  "Newspapers." 

After  graduating  from  college,  he  studied  theology 
two  years  at  Union  Seminary,  and  one  year  at  Andover, 

[489] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

from  which  he  was  graduated  in  1868.  While  at  An- 
dover  he  received  and  accepted  a  call  from  the  Com- 
mittee of  the  New  York  City  Mission.  For  six  months 
he  preached  in  Olivet  Chapel,  Second  Street,  and  sub- 
sequently, for  a  time,  in  Lebanon  Chapel,  Columbia 
Street.  In  1870,  he  was  acting  pastor  of  the  Ameri- 
can Presbyterian  Church  in  Montreal,  Canada;  and  on 
May  15  of  the  same  year  he  was  ordained  by  a  Con- 
gregational Council  at  North  Manchester,  Connecti- 
cut. For  a  time,  in  1871,  he  was  engaged  in  railway 
mission  work  in  Chicago,  Illinois.  On  May  17,  1873, 
he,  with  his  wife,  under  appointment  of  the  American 
Board,  sailed  from  New  York  for  Glasgow,  on  his  way 
to  join  the  mission  in  Spain.  He  arrived  at  Santander 
July  5.  He  spent  ten  years  of  faithful  service  in 
Spain,  being  located  for  a  time  at  Santander  and 
Madrid,  and  after  1875,  at  Zaragoza.  From  this 
place  he  wrote  a  letter  to  the  class  secretary,  from 
which  the  following  extracts  are  made:  "I  had  the 
pleasure,  last  autumn,  of  attending,  by  invitation,  as 
Secretary  of  the  Evangelical  Alliance  of  Spain  and 
Portugal,  the  General  Conference  of  the  Alliance  in 
Bale.  It  was  especially  pleasant  to  see  so  many  Amer- 
ican friends  and  old  acquaintances  for  the  first  time 
since  we  left  that  goodly  land.  ...  I  returned  from 
Bale  by  the  San  Gotthard  Pass  and  the  Italian  Lakes. 
In  Turin  I  met  M.  Meille,  the  pastor  of  a  Waldensian 
church  in  Venice.  He  told  me  that  Dr.  Justin  Em- 
erson had  spent  last  winter  in  Venice.  .  .  .  We  have 
now  been  in  Zaragoza  about  four  years.  Though  our 
work  is  only  a  beginning,  a  laying  of  foundations  in 
the  face  of  much  opposition  and  violence,  we  enjoy  it 
and  hope  to  have  the  privilege  of  continuing  in  it."  His 
brother,  William  H.,  .was  a  missionary  in  Spain  at  the 
same  time.  His  letters  speak  of  the  formation  of  a 
church  in  1877,  and  of  a  Young  Men's  Christian  As- 

[490] 


Biographical  Sketches 

sociation  two  years  later,  of  new  accessions  to  the 
church,  of  night  schools,  and  of  a  Sunday-school  num- 
bering 120.  And  the  progress  of  which  he  wrote  was 
in  the  face  of  continued  and  persistent  opposition  and 
even  persecution  at  the  hands  of  the  civil  and  reli- 
gious authorities,  and  at  one  time  he  barely  escaped 
assassination. 

An  interesting  glimpse  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Gulick's 
work  is  given  us  by  his  brother,  Rev.  Oramel  H.  Gulick, 
of  the  Japan  Mission,  who  on  his  way  to  this  country 
visited  them,  and  under  date  of  January  4,  1881,  wrote 
as  follows:  "An  attentive  congregation,  mostly  of 
very  poor  people,  from  125  to  150  in  number,  nearly  fill 
their  audience  room  Sabbath  morning  and  evening,  and 
an  exceptionally  interesting  Sabbath-school  of  over  100 
meets  at  3  p.  M.  A  prayer  meeting  Tuesday  evening 
and  a  preaching  service  Thursday,  besides  a  weekly 
meeting  for  women,  and  a  weekly  sewing  school,  fill 
the  week  with  a  busy  round." 

After  ten  years  of  this  self-denying  service  he  re- 
turned to  this  country  in  1883,  and  the  following  year, 
on  account  of  the  health  of  his  wife,  he  resigned  his 
connection  with  the  Board.  He  then  became  agent 
of  the  American  Bible  Society  in  Cuba  for  one  year, 
and  in  1885  was  home  missionary  in  Las  Vegas,  New 
Mexico.  In  1886  he  returned  to  the  Hawaiian  Is- 
lands and  became  pastor  of  the  Union  Foreign  Church 
at  Makawao,  Maui,  which  position  he  held  until  1893. 
From  1894  to  1896,  he  was  in  the  service  of  the  McAll 
Mission  in  New  York,  and  in  the  latter  year  he  became 
superintendent  and  chaplain  of  the  Cathcart  Home  and 
Richardson  Home  at  Devon,  Pennsylvania,  which  po- 
sition he  held  the  rest  of  his  life.  The  year  1900-01 
was  spent  in  travel  in  Egypt,  India,  China,  Japan,  and 
Hawaii. 

In  1904  Mr.  Gulick  went  on  a  visit  to  Africa  in 

[491] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

company  with  Mr.  Samuel  T.  Alexander  of  Oakland, 
California,  who  was  also  a  son  of  one  of  the  earlier  mis- 
sionaries to  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  and  who  was  for  a 
time  a  member  of  the  class  of  1861  at  Williams.  While 
on  their  way  from  Mombasa  to  Uganda,  Mr.  Gulick 
was  prostrated  with  gastritis  and  died  suddenly  at 
Kijabi,  in  British  East  Africa,  June  15.  After  the 
death  of  his  companion,  Mr.  Alexander,  on  visiting 
Victoria  Falls  on  the  Zambesi,  was  there  injured  by 
the  falling  of  a  rock  on  his  foot,  rendering  amputation 
necessary,  and  died  from  the  effects  of  the  operation. 
Mr.  Gulick  was  married  in  Chicago,  Illinois,  No- 
vember 25,  1872,  to  Miss  Alice  Elmira  Walbridge,  a 
teacher,  who  was  born  at  Ithaca,  New  York,  and  had 
been  educated  at  Ithaca  Academy.  She  survived  her 
husband,  dying  in  Honolulu,  where  she  had  resided 
since  1909. 

FKANK  THOMPSON,  son  of  Launcelot  Thompson, 
was  born  December  14,  1835,  in  New  York  City.  He 
entered  college  as  a  Freshman  in  1861.  In  college  he 
was  a  member  of  the  Mills  Theological  Society,  of 
which  he  was  for  a  time  librarian;  of  the  Lyceum  of 
Natural  History,  of  which  he  was  for  a  time  secretary ; 
of  the  Sigma  Phi  Fraternity,  having  for  a  time  been  a 
member  of  the  Anti-Secret  Confederation;  of  the  Art 
Association;  the  Shakespere  Club;  the  Sunrise  Club; 
the  Eckford  Baseball  Club;  and  of  a  chess  club,  of 
which  he  was  sometime  treasurer.  According  to  the 
General  Catalogue  he  served  for  a  time  in  the  Civil 
War,  being  Lieutenant  in  a  New  York  Regiment  of 
United  States  Volunteers.  He  studied  theology  in 
Union  Theological  Seminary  for  one  year,  1865-66, 
and  subsequently  in  the  Theological  Institute  of  Con- 
necticut, at  which  he  was  graduated  in  1868.  He  was 
ordained  to  the  Congregational  ministry  in  November 

[492] 


Biographical  Sketches 

of  the  same  year,  and  became  pastor  of  the  English 
Chapel  at  Hilo,  Hawaii,  where,  according  to  his  class- 
mate, Gulick,  he  was  much  liked  by  his  people.  He 
spent  six  years  in  this  position  and  then  returned  to  the 
United  States  and  became  pastor  of  a  church  in  Wind- 
ham,  Connecticut,  where  he  remained  from  1875  to 
1881.  From  the  latter  year  to  1883  he  was  pastor  of 
a  church  in  Wilton,  Connecticut.  In  the  Class  Report, 
published  in  1880,  is  a  letter  from  Thompson,  in  which 
he  reports  himself  as  married  and  having  two  daugh- 
ters. The  report  published  seven  years  later  gives  his 
address  as  Valparaiso,  Chili,  South  America,  whither 
he  went  in  1883,  his  health  not  permitting  him  to  live 
North  during  winters.  He  was  then  a  Congregational 
pastor  at  Valparaiso  and  doing  well. 


CLASS  OF  1866 

ROBERT  HOSKINS,  son  of  Nathan  Hoskins,  was  born 
in  Bennington,  Vermont,  May  7,  1843.  His  father 
was  a  lawyer  by  profession.  The  son  entered  college 
from  Bennington  in  1862.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
Philologian  Society  and  of  the  Mills  Theological  So- 
ciety. He  was  also  a  member  of  the  Piedmont  Base- 
ball Club.  As  a  student  he  seems  to  have  been  some- 
thing of  an  ascetic  and  pietist,  of  a  retiring  and  unso- 
ciable disposition,  and  one  who  gave  little  intimation  of 
the  large  success  that  was  to  come  to  him.  After  grad- 
uation he  pursued  a  short  course  of  study  in  Union 
Theological  Seminary,  and  in  April,  1867,  he  was  or- 
dained deacon  by  the  Troy  Conference  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church.  About  the  same  time  he  was 
appointed  by  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of  his 
church  as  a  missionary  to  India.  He  and  his  wife  sailed 
September  10,  of  the  same  year,  arriving  in  India  Feb- 
ruary 1,  1868.  His  fields  of  labor  were  Bijnaur, 

[493] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

Budaun,  Shahjahanpur,  and  Cawnpore,  all  in  the 
United  Provinces,  North  India.  The  following  ex- 
tract is  from  a  letter  of  date  February  5,  1869,  written 
from  Bijnaur  to  a  college  classmate  and  published  in 
a  Class  Report:  "I  have  been  here  alone,  in  charge 
of  an  immense  field  (700,000  souls),  with  three  English 
and  four  vernacular  schools  under  my  superintendence, 
one  native  preacher  and  four  exhorters.  I  have  bap- 
tized fifty  persons,  and  my  little  church  has  grown  from 
twenty-seven  to  fifty-four.  There  are  yet  over  100 
candidates  for  baptism.  .  .  .  Baptism  here  is  the  cru- 
cial question;  oftentimes  by  it  families  are  broken  up, 
and  life-long  enmities  are  engendered.  A  wonderful 
revival  has  been  going  on  among  one  of  the  lower 
classes;  from  among  them  I  have  already  received 
twenty-five,  and  the  surrounding  villages  are  asking 
that  the  word  of  God  may  be  given  them.  As  yet  I 
cannot  send  to  all,  as  I  have  not  men  capable  of  lead- 
ing these  souls  to  Christ.  But  I  am  providing  as  fast 
as  I  can  for  the  future.  Each  evening  I  gather  my 
people  together  and  teach  them  to  read  Hindu,  lec- 
ture to  them  on  Bible  doctrines,  and  urge  them  to  a 
present  full  reliance  on  Christ  for  salvation.  I  have  five 
men  now,  day  laborers,  who  seem  to  get  my  meaning 
almost  intuitively,  as  I  attempt  to  open  up  the  wonders 
of  grace." 

In  1899  Dr.  Hoskins  established  industrial  work, 
including  carpentry,  blacksmithing,  painting,  and  cane- 
weaving,  in  the  boys'  orphanage  at  Cawnpore,  placing 
in  the  orphanage  the  boys  rescued  from  starvation  dur- 
ing the  famine  of  the  year  before. 

He  died  suddenly  at  Cawnpore,  September  22, 1903, 
from  apoplexy  induced  by  heat. 

He  did  successful  missionary  work  for  thirty-seven 
years,  during  which  time  he  had  enjoyed  only  three  fur- 
lough periods.  His  work  was  the  practical  kind  of  mis- 

[494  ] 


Biographical  Sketches 

sionary  work,  and  for  this  he  had  been  fitted  by  his  ex- 
perience in  college,  where  he  acquired  considerable  me- 
chanical education  while  being  compelled  to  devise 
means  for  earning  his  way  through  college.  While  his 
knowledge  of  mechanics  made  it  possible  for  him  to 
start  several  training  schools  where  were  made  several 
articles  of  furniture,  some  knowledge  of  medicine  en- 
abled him  to  treat  the  sick  with  simple  medicines.  In 
these  and  other  similar  ways  he  was  enabled  to  aid  the 
natives  in  material  things  and  thus  to  gain  more  ready 
access  to  their  souls.  He  had  been  for  many  years  a 
leader  in  the  missionary  work  in  that  part  of  India,  and 
from  January,  1898,  until  his  death  he  was  Presiding 
Elder  of  the  Cawnpore  District.  The  loss  of  such  a 
man  was  great,  not  only  to  the  natives,  but  to  his  col- 
leagues and  to  the  churches  which  supported  the  work. 

The  following  tribute  to  Dr.  Hoskins,  published  in 
the  Northwestern  Christian  Advocate,  October  28, 
1903,  is  by  the  Rev.  Thomas  Craven,  of  India: 

"Dr.  Hoskins  was  a  forceful  and  original  leader. 
He  was  among  the  first,  if  not  the  very  first,  to  dis- 
cover the  elect  of  the  Lord  among  the  'depressed 
classes/  to  break  away  from  the  missionary  traditions 
in  respect  to  these  lower  castes  and  throw  his  soul  into 
the  work  of  disciplining  them.  Indeed,  not  a  few  effi- 
cient native  evangelists  who  became  successful  in  win- 
ning the  thousands  of  converts  of  more  recent  years, 
were  prepared  in  those  early  days  by  this  patient,  mod- 
est and,  in  America,  little-mentioned  worker. 

"As  we  have  said,  he  was  original  as  well  as  force- 
ful. One  of  the  many  cases  we  could  give  will  suffice 
to  illustrate  this  trait.  The  native  evangelist  alluded 
to  we  know  well.  Brother  Hoskins  found  him  a  scaven- 
ger on  a  scavenger's  cart.  He  called  him  down  and 
talked  with  him.  He  explained  that  he  should  first 
take  his  cart  home,  then  return  to  him  and  (after  the 

[495] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

custom  of  the  country)  become  a  disciple;  that  he  would 
be  taught  to  read  in  books  and  he  should  prepare  for 
what  God  may  have  for  him  to  do.  Hoskins  undertook 
his  support.  Thus,  under  the  influence  of  the  teach- 
ing he  received  and  the  transforming  power  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  one  of  the  greatest  evangelists  and  the  hymn- 
writer  of  the  Methodist  Church  in  India  was  called  into 
service. 

"Dr.  Hoskins,  I  believe,  also  first  conceived  the  idea 
of  the  short-term  helpers'  school.  His  fertile  brain 
was  always  originating  some  new  method  by  which  he 
might  the  more  effectively  storm  the  fortress  of  heath- 
enism. He  cared  not  who  took  the  credit,  so  the  ob- 
ject should  be  accomplished.  He  was  an  unselfish 
follower  of  Christ  and  an  untiring  worker  in  his  cause. 

"His  literary  work  was  extensive.  His  greatest 
work  was  a  Concordance  of  the  Scriptures,  to  which  he 
gave  years  of  labor  and  bankrupted  his  treasury.  He 
spoke  Hindustani  fluently  and  wrote  it  elegantly.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  Bible  Revision  Committee." 

Rev.  Rockwell  Claney  wrote  from  Muttra,  India, 
concerning  him:  "Dr.  Hoskins  was  greatly  loved  by  all, 
and  was  especially  successful  in  training  young  men 
for  the  ministry,  more  than  100  of  whom  are  now  in 
active  service  as  a  result  of  his  labors." 

On  July  25,  1867,  he  married  Charlotte  Lewis 
Roundey,  who  survived  him  with  three  sons,  one  of  the 
sons  being  the  Class  Boy.  Mrs.  Hoskins  resides  in 
Cheyenne,  Wyoming. 

Dr.  Hoskins  was  the  author  of  an  "Urdu  Concord- 
ance of  the  Bible,"  a  "Roman  Urdu  Concordance  of  the 
Bible,"  and  an  "Urdu  Commentary  on  the  Gospel  ac- 
cording to  St.  John." 

He  received  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Philosophy 
from  Boston  University  in  1886. 

[  496  ] 


Biographical  Sketches 

CLASS  OF  1868 

OLIVER  POMEROY  EMERSON,  son  of  Rev.  John  S. 
and  Ursula  Sophia  (Newell)  Emerson,  was  born  at 
Lahainaluna,  Maui,  Hawaiian  Islands,  July  27,  1845. 
He  was  grandson  of  Captain  John  and  Elizabeth 
(French)  Emerson,  both  from  New  Hampshire,  and 
of  Rev.  Gad  and  Sophia  (Clapp)  Newell.  Rev.  Gad 
Newell  of  Nelson,  New  Hampshire,  was  a  graduate 
of  Yale  (1786),  and  lived  to  be  over  95  years  of 
age.  Dexter  ("Yale  Biographies  and  Annals") 
says  of  him:  "Mr.  Newell  was  a  plain,  direct  preacher, 
of  dignified  bearing,  simple  in  expression,  free  from 
mannerisms,  and  from  display  in  voice  or  gesture.  He 
adhered  to  the  doctrines  of  the  Westminster  Confes- 
sion and  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  his  people  re- 
main united  and  prosperous  under  his  ministry."  One 
of  his  sons  was  graduated  at  the  Yale  Medical  School 
in  1822. 

Rev.  John  S.  Emerson,  the  father  of  the  subject 
of  our  sketch,  born  at  Chester,  New  Hampshire,  was 
graduated  at  Dartmouth  in  1826  and  Andover  Theo- 
logical Seminary  in  1830.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
Phi  Beta  Kappa  Society  and  for  one  year  was  tutor 
at  Dartmouth.  In  1831  he  went  as  a  missionary  to  the 
Sandwich  Islands,  where  he  was  a  member  of  the  mis- 
sion nearly  thirty-five  years.  His  life  was  character- 
ized by  an  earnest  Christian  faith.  He  devoted  much 
time  to  teaching  the  Bible,  and  it  was  said  of  his  efforts 
in  this  particular,  that  in  no  part  of  the  Islands  had 
the  people  been  more  in  the  habit  of  reading  the  Scrip- 
tures than  in  his  special  field.  He  also  acted  upon  the 
intense  belief  that  the  natives  must  be  educated  in  the 
practical  industries  of  civilized  life,  and  in  accordance 
with  this  belief,  he  taught  the  people  the  arts  of  agri- 
culture. He  also  prepared  an  English-Hawaiian 
Dictionary  and  elementary  text-books.  In  his  mis- 

[497] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

sionary  labors  his  wife  was  an  efficient  helper.  For 
years  she  conducted  the  singing  in  the  church  and  con- 
stantly administered  to  the  wants  of  the  people  in  sick- 
ness and  health.  Such  were  the  parents  of  Oliver 
Pomeroy  Emerson. 

The  family  of  Emerson  traces  its  ancestry  to  Eng- 
land and  is  illustrious  in  the  annals  of  American  his- 
tory. Michael  Emerson  emigrated  from  England  and 
settled  in  Haverhill,  Massachusetts,  in  1655.  His  wife, 
Hannah  Webster,  was  daughter  of  John  Webster, 
who  was  born  in  England  and  settled  in  Ipswich,  Mas- 
sachusetts, 1634.  Thomas  Newell,  an  ancestor  on  the 
mother's  side,  came  from  England  to  Farmington, 
Connecticut,  about  1640.  His  wife,  Rebeccah  Olm- 
stead,  came  to  Boston  in  1632.  Another  ancestor,  Roger 
Clapp,  born  in  Devonshire,  England,  settled  in  Dor- 
chester, Massachusetts,  in  1630,  and  was  governor  of 
the  castle  in  Boston  harbor  over  twenty  years.  Sam- 
uel Emerson,  the  great-grandfather  of  Oliver  P.  Em- 
erson, was  distinguished  for  his  patriotism,  and  had  five 
sons,  all  of  whom  served  in  the  armies  of  the  French 
and  Indian  Wars  or  in  the  War  of  the  Revolution. 
Rev.  Stephen  Batchelder,  who  was  one  of  the  ancestors 
of  the  wife  of  Samuel  Emerson,  was  distinguished  for 
his  opposition  to  the  New  England  hierarchy. 

Oliver  Pomeroy  Emerson  pursued  his  preparatory 
studies  in  the  school  at  Punahou  and  at  Oahu  College 
(both  in  Honolulu),  and  entered  Williams  as  a  Sopho- 
more in  1865.  Among  his  classmates  were  James  H. 
Canfield  and  Philip  Van  Ness  Myers.  In  college  he 
was  a  member  of  the  Lyceum  of  Natural  History;  of 
the  Mills  Theological  Society,  of  which  he  was  for  a 
time  vice-president;  of  the  Philomelian  Association;  of 
the  Philologian  Society,  of  which  he  was  for  a  time 
treasurer,  and  for  which  he  was  a  disputant  in  the 
Adelphic  Union  Debate,  October  16,  1867;  he  was 

[498] 


Biographical  Sketches 

president  of  the  Class  Debating  Society;  one  of  the 
speakers  at  the  Moonlight  Exhibition  in  his  Junior 
year;  a  member  of  two  baseball  clubs,  of  one  of  which 
he  was  director;  was  a  member  of  the  Committee  on 
Songs  at  the  Biennial  and  at  the  Class  Day;  and  was 
one  of  the  speakers  at  Commencement,  the  subject  of 
his  oration  being  "Rogers'  'Wounded  Scout.' ' 

Justin  E.  Emerson  (Williams  1865)  was  a  brother 
who  had  two  sons  graduate  at  Williams,  in  1902  and 
1907,  respectively.  Mr.  Emerson  studied  theology  at 
Andover  Seminary,  from  which  he  was  graduated  in 
1871.  He  received  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts  from 
his  Alma  Mater  the  same  year.  During  the  years  1868- 
69  he  was  a  teacher  in  the  Phillips  Academy  at  An- 
dover. On  graduation  from  the  seminary  Mr.  Emer- 
son became  for  two  years  pastor  of  the  Congregational 
Church  in  Lynnfield  Centre,  Massachusetts.  He  was 
pastor  of  the  Congregational  Church  in  Allegheny 
City,  Pennsylvania,  1874-77;  supplied  the  Congrega- 
tional Church  in  Shelburne  Falls,  Massachusetts,  1877- 
79;  and  was  pastor  of  the  Congregational  Church  in 
Peacedale,  Rhode  Island,  1880-88.  In  1889,  under  the 
appointment  of  the  American  Board,  he  became  Secre- 
tary of  the  Hawaiian  Evangelical  Association,  which 
position  he  held  till  1904,  when  he  became,  for  a  year, 
Agent  of  the  Hawaiian  Evangelical  Association  for  the 
islands  of  Maui,  Molokai,  and  Lanai.  The  year  1906- 
07  was  spent  at  the  Harvard  Divinity  School.  The  fol- 
lowing year  he  supplied  a  church  at  Farmington, 
Connecticut. 

Mr.  Emerson  was  called  to  his  responsible  position 
in  the  Sandwich  Islands  at  a  most  important  period  in 
the  history  of  the  Islands.  By  birth,  education,  and 
experience  he  was  exceptionally  well  fitted  for  the  work 
he  had  to  do.  He  thoroughly  understood  the  native 
character  and  well  knew  what  needed  to  be  done  in  that 

[499] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

critical  period  of  the  people's  development.  That  he 
discharged  his  duty  with  fidelity  and  general  acceptance 
may  be  inferred  from  the  following  extract,  taken  from 
the  minutes  of  the  Hawaiian  Board  which  they  re- 
corded in  accepting  his  resignation:  "Coming  at  a  criti- 
cal time  in  the  history  of  Hawaiian  Christianity,  when 
the  reactionary  movement  towards  paganism  threat- 
ened its  very  life,  Mr.  Emerson  threw  himself  into  the 
work  and  helped  to  save  the  day.  Thoroughly  ac- 
quainted with  the  native  character,  perfectly  at  home 
in  the  language  of  the  Islands,  and  gifted  with  rare  tact 
in  guiding  the  Hawaiian  pastors  and  people,  Mr.  Em- 
erson rendered  very  great  service.  During  all  these 
years  he  has  been  a  prominent  figure  in  the  religious 
life  of  Hawaii,  and  in  the  severance  of  the  relations 
which  have  so  long  subsisted,  the  Board  gratefully  ac- 
knowledges the  debt  owed  Brother  Emerson  for  his 
devoted  labor  of  love  and  wishes  him  many  years  of 
ever  enlarging  joy  and  blessedness  in  the  work  to  which 
he  now  goes." 

Mr.  Emerson  was  married  at  Roxbury,  Massachu- 
setts, February  13,  1896,  to  Eugenie,  daughter  of 
Thomas  J.  and  Mary  E.  (Fisher)  Homer,  grand- 
daughter of  Joseph  Warren  and  Sarah  (Rea)  Homer, 
and  a  descendant  of  Captain  John  Homer,  who  came 
from  Sedgeley,  Stafford  County,  England,  to  Cape 
Cod  about  1670. 

They  have  no  children.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Emerson  are 
both  living  and  reside  in  Providence,  Rhode  Island. 


CLASS  OF  1869 

HORACE  HALL  LEAVITT,  son  of  Erasmus  Darwin 
and  Almira  (Fay)  Leavitt,  was  born  in  Lowell,  Massa- 
chusetts, July  8,  1846."  He  fitted  for  college  in  Low- 
ell High  School,  and  entered  college  as  a  Freshman  in 

[  500] 


Biographical  Sketches 

the  fall  of  1865.  He  took  one  of  the  prizes  at  the  Rhe- 
torical Exhibition  held  at  Commencement  1866.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  Mills  Theological  Society,  also 
of  the  Philologian  Society,  of  which  he  was  for  a  time 
treasurer,  and  also  library  inspector,  and  for  which  he 
was  one  of  the  disputants  in  a  debate  held  in  1868.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  Logomachian  Society,  of  which 
he  was  for  a  time  president;  was  vice-president  of  a 
chess  club;  a  member  of  the  Class  Baseball  Club;  one 
of  the  Committee  of  Arrangements  for  the  Biennial  of 
1869;  was  Captain  of  his  Class  all  the  four  years;  and 
at  the  Class  Day  Exercises  held  June  22,  1869,  he  was 
the  Orator,  his  subject  being  " Consecration."  He  was 
also  one  of  the  speakers  at  Commencement,  having  the 
English  Oration,  the  subject  of  which  was  "Responsi- 
bility in  Society." 

After  graduating  he  spent  a  year  in  various  kinds 
of  business,  mainly  as  an  insurance  agent,  devoting 
some  time  also  to  the  study  of  law.  In  the  fall 
of  1870  he  entered  Andover  Theological  Seminary, 
though  having  the  purpose  of  becoming  a  lawyer. 
He  soon  found  the  study  of  theology  congenial, 
and  accordingly  completed  the  course  in  the  sem- 
inary, where  he  was  graduated  in  1873.  During 
the  summer  of  1871  he  supplied  a  pulpit  in  Hiram, 
Maine.  He  was  ordained  as  a  foreign  missionary 
at  Cambridgeport,  Massachusetts,  June  19,  1873, 
Dr.  Mark  Hopkins  preaching  the  sermon.  He  sailed 
the  following  October  from  San  Francisco  for  Osaka, 
Japan,  arriving  at  Kobe  November  15.  He  was  sta- 
tioned at  Osaka  1873-75.  Some  account  of  his  first  ex- 
perience in  this  mission  field  is  given  in  the  following 
extract  from  a  letter  written  to  the  secretary  of  his  col- 
lege class:  "I  remained  in  Japan  a  little  more  than  a 
year,  when  I  returned  to  the  United  States,  seeking 
health.  The  time  of  my  reaching  Japan  proved  a 

[501] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

marked  era  in  our  work,  the  seed  sown  in  the  few  pre- 
vious years  having  even  so  soon  ripened,  and  the  call 
for  churches  was  heard.  My  colleagues  in  Osaka  were 
forced,  from  different  causes,  to  leave  the  city  for  a 
time,  and  I  was  left  in  charge  of  a  small  work  at  a  time 
when  I  had  but  three  months'  knowledge  of  the  people 
or  language.  The  stimulus  was  great — the  work  in- 
spiring. I  was  well  and  favorably  circumstanced,  and 
I  threw  myself  into  it,  only  too  glad  of  the  opportunity. 
The  work  rapidly  enlarged  from  various  causes,  and  the 
strain  was  only  known  after  it  was  over.  I  finally 
broke  down  under  an  effort  at  four  preaching  services 
a  week — of  course  only  preaching  by  apology,  as  my 
language  was  a  mere  shadow  of  that  needed — in  June, 
after  having  been  in  the  country  a  little  over  seven 
months.  I  spent  the  remainder  of  the  year  in  trying 
to  regain  my  health  here,  and  sailed  for  America  in 
February,  1875,  where  I  spent  a  year,  for  the  most  part 
in  the  forests  and  mountains  of  Maine."  In  February, 
1876,  having  been  recently  married,  he  returned  with 
his  wife,  to  Japan,  locating  at  his  former  station,  Osaka. 
Though  he  was  for  some  time  after  his  return  in  feeble 
health,  he  remained  at  his  post  for  five  years,  doing 
successful  work  in  preaching  and  establishing  churches 
and  schools.  Early  in  1881  he  resigned  his  connection 
with  the  Board,  and,  returning  to  this  country,  was  set- 
tled for  a  year  at  Andover,  Massachusetts,  and  in  Sep- 
tember, 1882,  he  became  pastor  of  the  Congregational 
Church  in  North  Andover,  where  he  remained  nearly 
eleven  years,  and  where  his  labors  were  attended  with 
success.  After  a  year  of  rest  and  study  he  took  the 
pastorate  of  the  Congregational  Church  in  Somerville, 
Massachusetts,  in  1894.  In  1905,  owing  to  ill  health, 
he  gave  up  his  charge,  at  Somerville,  and  preached  for 
a  few  months  in  Maine.  Since  November  of  1905  he 
has  not  attempted  to  preach.  Though  he  spent  a  year 

[502] 


Biographical  Sketches 

or  more  on  the  Pacific  Coast  in  pursuit  of  health, 
the  change  of  climate  seems  to  have  been  without 
permanent  benefit.  He  now  resides  in  Somerville, 
Massachusetts. 

He  was  married  January  19,  1876,  to  Miss  Mary 
Augusta  Kelly,  of  Cambridge,  Massachusetts.  She 
was  educated  at  Tilden  Seminary,  Lebanon,  New 
Hampshire,  and  at  Mount  Holyoke. 

Their  children  are  two  sons  and  four  daughters: 
Mary  Augusta;  Caroline  Frances;  Charlotte  Eliza- 
beth; Horace  Hall,  Jr.;  Almira  Fay;  Erasmus  Dar- 
win. In  a  letter  written  from  California  to  the  class 
secretary  in  the  year  of  the  fortieth  reunion  of  the  class, 
Mr.  Leavitt  says  of  his  family:  "I  am  favored  still 
that  my  wife  and  children  are  all  living;  my  wife  and 
two  youngest  are  here,  the  four  older  children  are  at  the 
East.  Two  of  my  children,  girls,  are  married.  The 
next  to  the  oldest  is  Mrs.  Crist,  the  assistant  principal 
of  Swarthmore  Preparatory  School,  Pennsylvania. 
The  next  in  age,  Mrs.  Gilpatric,  of  Bay  Ridge,  New 
York,  he  a  lawyer  in  New  York  City.  My  oldest 
child,  a  daughter,  is  a  physician  in  Somerville,  Massa- 
chusetts. The  fourth  child,  a  son,  is  a  student  in  Un- 
ion Theological  Seminary,  New  York.  The  fifth 
child,  a  daughter,  is  registrar  of  Mills  College,  Cali- 
fornia, and  teacher  of  English.  The  sixth  child,  a  son, 
is  Master  of  Boone's  University  School,  Berkeley, 
California." 

WILLIAM  REDFIELD  STOCKING  was  born  of  mission- 
ary parents  and  on  missionary  ground.  He  was  the 
son  of  William  Redfield  and  Jerusha  Emily  (Gilbert) 
Stocking,  and  the  grandson  of  Seth  and  Hannah 
(Pratt)  Stocking  and  Ezra  and  Rebecca  (Miner) 
Gilbert.  He  was  born  at  Urumia,  Persia,  March  31, 
1844.  Mr.  Stocking's  father  was  a  missionary  to  the 

[503] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

Nestorians  from  1837  to  1853,  and  was  spoken  of  in 
the  Missionary  Herald  as  one  of  the  "indefatigable 
laborers"  of  the  mission.  The  family  traces  its  descent 
from  George  Stocking,  who  came  to  America  from 
Suffolk,  England,  in  1633,  and  settled  in  Cambridge, 
Massachusetts.  In  1636  he  went  as  one  of  Thomas 
Hooker's  company  of  one  hundred  to  Hartford,  Con- 
necticut, and  became  one  of  the  founders  of  that  city. 
Deacon  Samuel,  a  son  of  George  Stocking,  married  in 
1652  Bertha  Hopkins,  daughter  of  Samuel  Hopkins 
of  the  Mayflower,,  and  resided  in  Cromwell,  Connecti- 
cut. Samuel  Hopkins  was  a  Sergeant  in  King  Philip's 
War,  and  was  an  extensive  shipbuilder  and  owner. 

The  earliest  years  of  William  Redfield  Stocking 
were  spent  in  Persia.  The  years  when  he  would  regu- 
larly have  been  fitting  for  college  fell  in  the  period  of 
our  Civil  War.  He  responded  to  the  call  of  his  coun- 
try and  in  1862  enlisted  in  the  34th  Regiment  of  Mas- 
sachusetts Infantry,  with  which  he  remained  for  three 
years  and  participated  with  honor  in  eleven  of  its 
engagements. 

He  fitted  for  college  at  the  State  Normal  School, 
Westfield,  and  at  Williston  Seminary,  Easthampton, 
Massachusetts.  He  entered  college  in  1867  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  Junior  year  of  his  class  and  remained 
until  the  close  of  the  course  but  did  not  graduate.  In 
college  he  was  a  member  of  the  Mills  Theological  So- 
ciety, of  which  he  was  for  a  time  president  and  for  a 
time  vice-president;  of  the  Philologiari  Society,  of 
which  he  was  for  a  time  vice-president  and  also  treas- 
urer ;  and  of  the  Lyceum  of  Natural  History.  He  was 
withal  an  athlete,  and  was  a  member  of  the  baseball 
nine  of  his  class. 

The  years  1869-71  he  spent  in  Andover  Theological 
Seminary,  and  was  ordained  June  19,  1871,  at  West- 
field,  Massachusetts,  in  the  Second  Congregational 

[504] 


Biographical  Sketches 

Church,  of  which  Rev.   Henry  Hopkins  was  pastor. 

He  was  married  the  following  day  to  Miss  Hattie 
E,  Lyman,  daughter  of  Deacon  Samuel  and  Julia 
(Searle)  Lyman  of  Southampton,  Massachusetts.  On 
August  9  of  the  same  year  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Stocking 
sailed  from  New  York  for  Liverpool  as  missionaries 
of  the  Presbyterian  Board,  en  route  for  Persia.  From 
Liverpool  they  crossed  the  Continent  to  Constantinople 
and  thence  to  Trebizond,  from  which  place  they  rode 
on  horseback  600  miles  across  Turkey  to  Urumia,  which 
was  to  be  their  station.  They  reached  their  Persian 
home  just  ten  weeks  after  sailing  from  New  York,  and 
received  a  cordial  welcome  from  the  natives  and  mem- 
bers of  the  mission.  There  was  an  added  pleasure  in 
Mr.  Stocking's  returning  to  the  place  where  he  was 
born  and  spent  his  earliest  years,  and  where  his  father 
had  labored  for  sixteen  years.  After  spending  about 
a  year  in  learning  the  language  and  becoming  accli- 
mated, Mr.  and  Mrs.  Stocking  were  sent  on  a  tour 
through  Kurdistan.  While  on  the  plains  of  the  Tigris 
River  Mr.  Stocking  was  overcome  by  a  sunstroke,  and 
Mrs.  Stocking  died  August  17,  1872,  from  a  complica- 
tion of  sicknesses.  She  was  buried  at  Hassanna,  a  few 
miles  east  of  the  Tigris  River.  Mr.  Stocking  married 
again  October  28,  1873,  at  Florence,  Italy,  Miss  Isa- 
bella Baker,  daughter  of  Samuel  and  Sophia  (Par- 
sons) Baker.  She  was  formerly  from  Wiscasset, 
Maine,  and  a  graduate  of  Mount  Holyoke  College,  but 
at  the  time  of  her  marriage  she  had  been  for  five  years 
a  missionary  teacher  in  Mardin,  Eastern  Turkey. 

Mr.  Stocking  remained  seven  years  in  Persia  doing 
all  kinds  of  missionary  service,  but  having  particular 
care  of  the  work  among  the  mountain  districts  of  Kur- 
distan in  Asiatic  Turkey,  where  Dr.  Ashiel  Grant,  Rev. 
Samuel  Audley  Rhea,  and  others  had  labored.  The 
duties  of  this  field  involved  a  long  and  difficult  mission- 

[505  ] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

ary  tour  each  year,  and  Mr.  Stocking  estimates  that  in 
those  tours  he  had  ridden  not  less  than  15,000  miles 
on  horseback,  in  Turkey  and  Persia.  After  the  death 
of  Rev.  J.  G.  Cochran  Mr.  Stocking  had  charge  for 
one  year  of  the  mission  school  at  Seir.  He  was  also 
treasurer  of  the  Urumia  station  for  several  years,  and 
made  a  number  of  tours  to  the  seacoast  and  to  other 
places  in  the  interest  of  the  general  work  of  the 
mission. 

In  1878  Mr.  Stocking  with  his  wife  and  four  chil- 
dren returned  to  this  country  in  the  hope  that  rest  and 
change  would  benefit  Mrs.  Stocking's  health.  The 
next  three  years  he  devoted  to  resting  and  delivering 
lectures  on  Persia,  expecting  to  return  again  to  his  mis- 
sion field.  When  it  was  found  that  Mrs.  Stocking's 
health  would  not  admit  of  this,  he  became  pastor  of  the 
Church  of  Christ  in  White  Oaks,  Williamstown,  where 
Professor  Albert  Hopkins  labored  for  so  many  years. 
This  position  Mr.  Stocking  held  from  February,  1882, 
until  November,  1885.  In  1886  he  was  appointed 
superintendent  of  the  workhouse  on  BlackwelFs  Island, 
New  York  City.  Of  work  done  here  and  subsequently 
by  Mr.  Stocking,  the  secretary  of  the  class  of  1869 
writes  as  follows:  "Here  he  found  opportunity  for 
effectual  work  among  the  inmates.  The  number  of 
commitments  to  the  institution  during  the  first  three 
years  of  Stocking's  administration  was  nearly  68,000, 
with  a  daily  average  of  about  2400  on  the  rolls.  He 
organized  Blackwell's  Island  Temperance  Society,  and 
in  three  years  more  than  6000  of  the  inmates  of  the 
workhouse  took  the  pledge,  many  of  whom  were  thus 
restored  to  usefulness.  Later,  Stocking  was  trans- 
ferred to  the  branch  workhouse  on  Hart's  Island.  In 
1891  he  took  charge  of  the  Fairview  Home  at  West 
Troy,  New  York,  having  resigned  the  Hart's  Island 
position  for  that  purpose.  During  all  these  changes 

[506] 


Biographical  Sketches 

Mrs.  Stocking's  health  continued  to  fail,  and  in  1890  she 
passed  away,  having  been  taken  to  the  family  home  at 
"Steep  Acres,"  near  Williamstown.  After  a  short 
time  at  West  Troy,  Stocking  took  up  his  permanent 
residence  at  Williamstown,  where  he  has  brought  up 
his  children  and  fitted  them  for  lives  of  honor  and  use- 
fulness. He  has  lectured ;  has  preached  at  White  Oaks 
Chapel  and  elsewhere;  has  given  an  example  of  what 
an  earnest,  determined  man  can  accomplish,  under 
many  difficulties  and  adverse  circumstance.  We  are 
glad  to  do  him  honor." 

On  the  occasion  of  the  third  anniversary  of  the  Black- 
well's  Island  Temperance  Society,  the  editor  of  a  reli- 
gious journal  wrote:  "Rev.  William  R.  Stocking,  for 
some  years  past  superintendent  of  the  workhouse  on 
Blackwell's  Island,  has  been  quietly  doing  among  the 
degraded  inmates  a  work  truly  as  'missionary'  as  any 
to  which  he  or  his  father  ever  put  their  hands  in  Per- 
sia. Some  of  the  transformations  of  character  on  the 
island,  wrought  by  God's  blessing  on  his  labors,  are  as 
wonderful  as  the  pages  of  foreign  missionary  history 
record." 

By  his  second  marriage  there  were  born  to  Mr. 
Stocking  nine  children,  of  whom  seven  are  living: 
Emily  Holmes  (Mrs.  George  K.  Goodwin),  Sharon 
Hill,  Pennsylvania;  Sophia  Cochran,  teacher,  Wil- 
liamstown; Ethel,  teacher,  Williamstown;  Annie 
Woodman  (Mrs.  Arthur  Clifton  Boyce),  missionary  of 
the  Presbyterian  Board,  Teheran,  Persia;  William 
Redfield,  Jr.  (Williams  1905),  teacher  in  Central  High 
School,  Detroit,  Michigan;  Samuel  Baker  (Williams 
1907),  shipping  business,  Seattle,  Washington;  Charles 
Parsons  (Williams  1910),  mercantile  business,  Seattle, 
Washington. 


[507] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

CLASS  OF  1871 

LORIN  SAMUEL  GATES,  son  of  Orson  Cowles  and 
Laura  (Loomis)  Gates,  was  born  in  East  Hartford, 
Connecticut,  September  1,  1845.  He  was  the  grandson 
of  Samuel  and  Lucy  (Cowdery)  Gates  and  of  Lorin 
and  Maria  Ann  (Gillett)  Loomis.  The  first  immi- 
grant ancestor  in  America  is  believed  to  have  been 
George  Gates,  whose  descendants  settled  in  Haddam, 
Connecticut. 

The  father  of  Lorin  Samuel  Gates  was  a  farmer. 
The  son  fitted  for  college  at  Williston  Seminary,  and 
entered  his  class  at  Williams  at  the  beginning  of  the 
Freshman  year.  The  class  of  1871  had  a  large  number 
of  members  who  gained  honorable  distinction  in  life. 
In  college  Mr.  Gates  was  a  member  of  the  Philologian 
Society,  of  which  he  was  for  a  time  treasurer;  of  the 
Mills  Theological  Society;  and  of  the  Lyceum  of  Nat- 
ural History.  In  each  of  the  last  two  he  was  for  a  time 
secretary.  He  was  also  a  member  of  the  Central  Amer- 
ican Expedition.  He  was  one  of  the  speakers  at  Com- 
mencement, the  subject  of  his  oration  being  "Central 
America." 

After  graduation,  he  taught  for  one  year  in  a  pri- 
vate school  in  Hamden,  Connecticut,  and  in  1872  en- 
tered Yale  Theological  Seminary,  from  which  he  was 
graduated  as  Bachelor  of  Divinity  in  1875.  During 
the  summer  vacation  of  1873  he  preached  under  the 
direction  of  the  Vermont  Missionary  Society  in  Orange, 
Vermont,  and  in  the  summers  of  1874  and  1875  he 
preached  in  Cambridge,  Vermont.  He  was  ordained 
as  an  evangelist  in  Cambridge  July  7,  1875,  and  on  the 
6th  of  the  following  November  he  with  his  wife  sailed 
from  New  York,  under  appointment  of  the  American 
Board,  for  the  Mahratta  Mission,  Western  India,  ar- 
riving at  Bombay  December  28.  He  was  stationed  at 
Sholapur,  280  miles  southeast  of  Bombay,  and  has  re- 

[508] 


Biographical  Sketches 

mained  there  up  to  the  present.  Here  his  work  has 
been  both  evangelistic  and  educational,  and  has  ex- 
tended over  a  wide  extent  of  territory.  In  1879  he 
writes  of  spending  a  week  or  more  at  towns  within  sev- 
enty-five miles  of  Sholapur,  and  at  another  time  of 
preaching  in  about  seventy  villages.  In  these  towns  he 
was  often  aided  by  the  sciopticon  in  gathering  audiences. 
From  the  first  the  church  work  and  school  work  were 
highly  successful,  the  schools  proving  feeders  for  the 
church.  In  1890  he  reported  over  100  Christians  in  six- 
teen villages  (outside  of  Sholapur),  three  churches  or- 
ganized and  eight  schools  established,  and  three  years 
later  he  had  under  his  care  eight  churches  (two  self- 
supporting)  ,  eight  preachers,  and  fourteen  day  schools. 
Mr.  Gates  has  been  prominent  in  relief  work  done  dur- 
ing the  years  of  famine.  In  January,  1901,  he  reported 
the  number  of  workers  in  his  camp  as  being  2247. 
Many  of  these  were  Mohammedan  and  high-caste 
women  who  had  never  done  outdoor  work  before.  The 
following  extract  from  a  letter  gives  some  idea  of  the 
business  of  the  camp:  "The  camp  of  workers  is  in 
charge  of  two  native  pastors  who  make  semi-weekly 
payments,  see  that  the  people  are  kept  at  work,  and 
keep  order.  Under  them  are  many  overseers, — one  for 
about  fifty  persons.  Three  young  ladies,  one  a  doctor 
and  the  others  somewhat  skilled  in  nursing,  who  do  not 
belong  to  our  mission,  who  could  leave  their  work  for 
a  time, — one  from  America,  one  from  England,  and 
one  from  New  Zealand, — have  generously  given  their 
time  and  strength  without  pay  in  helping  us  care  for  the 
needy.  Our  yard  has  been  a  busy  place.  A  tent  served 
for  a  dispensary,  and  grass  huts  and  a  stable  for  hospi- 
tals on  one  side;  blasting  and  breaking  stone  went  on 
in  another  place,  burning  lime,  bringing  and  sifting 
sand  elsewhere,  deepening  a  well,  building  cheap  houses 
for  the  orphans,  carrying  earth  and  stone  to  level  up 

[  509] 


jniliams  College  and  Missions 

the  ground  for  the  girls'  school,  digging  for  the  founda- 
tion of  the  chapel  enlargement, — these  are  some  of  the 
things  that  have  kept  us  busy."  This  sort  of  relief 
work  has,  of  course,  opened  the  way  for  the  establish- 
ment of  schools  and  for  doing  the  work  of 
evangelization. 

Mr.  Gates  has  had  the  rather  rare  joy  of  laboring 
for  nearly  forty  years  in  the  same  field,  and  the  work 
he  has  done  as  a  preacher,  teacher,  and  helper  to  the 
famine- stricken  must  bring  him  large  satisfaction  in 
this  life. 

He  and  his  wife  have  visited  this  country  three  times, 
—in  1886,  1895,  and  1908. 

On  October  20,  1875,  Mr.  Gates  was  married  in 
Springfield,  Massachusetts,  to  Fanny  Anne,  daughter 
of  the  missionaries,  Rev.  Dr.  Allen  and  Martha  (Cha- 
pin)  Hazen,  and  granddaughter  of  Oliver  and  Anne 
(Pierce)  Chapin,  and  of  Austin  and  Sophia  Hazen* 
She  was  born  in  Sirur,  India,  July  9,  1852. 

Her  father,  Rev.  Allen  Hazen,  D.D.,  was  a  grad- 
uate of  Dartmouth  College  in  the  class  of  1842,  and  of 
Andover  Seminary  in  1845.  He  joined  the  Marathi 
Mission  of  the  American  Board  in  1847,  laboring  at 
Ahmednagar,  Sirur,  and  Bombay.  Returning  to  the 
United  States  in  1872,  on  account  of  the  health  of  Mrs. 
Hazen,  he  subsequently  served  several  churches  in  New 
England.  So  strong  was  his  love  for  the  work  in  India 
that  in  1891  he  visited  India  with  his  daughter,  and  for 
two  or  three  years  labored  in  his  own  field  at  his  own 
charges.  He  died  May  12,  1898,  at  the  home  of  his 
son,  General  Hazen,  in  Washington,  D.  C. 

Of  eight  children  born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Gates  six 
are  living:  Edith,  a  missionary,  Ahmednagar,  India; 
Helen  C.,  wife  of  Dr.  Robert  Hazen,  Thomaston,  Con- 
necticut; William  H.,  professor  in  the  State  Univer- 
sity, Baton  Rouge,  Louisiana;  Lorin  Henry,  student 

[510] 


Biographical  Sketches 

in  Hartford  Theological  Seminary;  Beryl  F.,  teacher 
in  the  Syrian  Protestant  College,  Beirut,  Syria;  Allen 
Hazen,  of  the  class  of  1912  at  Yale  College. 

WILLIAM  MOEEIS  KIXCAID  was  born  in  Utica,  Xew 
York,  January  16,  1850.  His  parents  were  George 
and  Elisabeth  L.  (Parshall)  Kincaid,  and  he  was  one 
of  six  children,  there  being  five  sons  and  one  daughter. 
His  grandparents  were  George  and  Margaret  (Cul- 
bertson)  Kincaid,  and  Israel  and  Elisabeth  (Tylee) 
Parshall.  His  mother  was  of  Huguenot  extraction, 
an  earnest  Baptist  Christian.  On  his  father's  side  he 
was  of  Scotch  ancestry  and  of  Presbyterian  traditions. 
The  grandfather  was  born  in  Edinburgh  and  the 
grandmother  in  Inverness.  They  went  first  to  Antrim, 
Ireland,  where  the  father  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch 
was  born,  and  whence  they  came  to  Xew  York  City  in 
1825.  The  grandfather,  Parshall,  was  a  soldier  in  the 
Revolutionary  War  and  also  in  the  War  of  1812. 

William  Morris  Kincaid  pursued  his  preparatory 
studies  in  Utica  Free  Academy  and  entered  Williams 
as  a  Sophomore  in  the  fall  of  1868.  His  name  as  given 
in  the  College  Catalogue  was  William  Morris  John 
Kincaid.  Among  his  classmates  were  James  Robert 
Dunbar,  Charles  Huntoon  Knight,  George  Edwin 
MacLean,  Robert  Wilson  Patterson,  Henry  Tatlock, 
and  William  Rogers  Terrett.  In  college  Kincaid  oc- 
cupied a  prominent  position.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
Delta  Kappa  Epsilon  Fraternity;  of  the  Philologian 
Society;  and  of  the  Lyceum  of  Natural  History.  He 
was  also  a  member  of  the  Boat  Club ;  of  the  Williams 
Gymnastic  Organization;  and  of  the  Chess  Club,  of 
which  he  was  one  of  the  directors.  He  was  a  success- 
ful student,  and  was  one  of  the  speakers  at  Commence- 
ment, when  he  gave  a  dissertation  on  the  subject  "He 
thinks  too  much;  such  men  are  dangerous." 

[511] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

After  graduation  he  entered  the  Baptist  Theologi- 
cal Seminary,  at  Rochester,  New  York,  where  he  was 
graduated  in  1874.     He  was  ordained  to  the  Baptist 
ministry  on  May  29  of  the  same  year  in  the  Tabernacle 
Baptist  Church  at  Utica.     His  first  pastorate  was  at 
the   First   Baptist   Church   in   Cortland,   New  York, 
where  he  remained  from  August  1,  1874,  till  October 
1,  1877.     From  that  date  till  March,  1881,  he  was  pas- 
tor of  the  Second  Baptist  Church  at  Rondout,  New 
York.     He  next  became  pastor  of  the  First  Baptist 
Church  in   San   Francisco,   California,   where   he   re- 
mained until  November,    1889.     From  December   of 
that  year  till  the  following  March  he  was  without  charge 
at  Groton,  Connecticut.     At  the  latter  date  he  united 
with  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  in  March,  1891, 
he  became  pastor  of  Andrew  Presbyterian  Church  in 
Minneapolis,    Minnesota,   having  declined   calls   to   a 
church  in  Harlem,  New  York,  and  to  a  Congregational 
church  in  Sioux  Falls,  South  Dakota.     While  in  Min- 
neapolis a  Gothic  stone  church  was  built  in  place  of  one 
of  wood,  and  a  great  number  of  students  from  the  uni- 
versity were  attracted  to  his  congregation.     From  Min- 
neapolis, where  his  pastorate  continued  for  nine  years, 
he  was  called  to  the  Union  Congregational  Church  at 
Honolulu,  Hawaiian  Islands.     For  nine  years  he  ex- 
ercised a  wide  influence  in  the  Islands,  and  resigned 
partly  on  account  of  the  health  of  his  wife  and  partly 
because  of  offence  given  to  some  of  his  congregation  by 
his  too  independent  speech.     With  the  purpose  of  re- 
tiring from  the  ministry,  he  purchased  a  plantation  in 
Virginia,  but  on  Sunday,  March  24,  1907,  he  received 
a  call  to  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Charlotte, 
North  Carolina,  which  call  he  accepted  on  March  24 
following.     During  this  pastorate  of  nearly  four  years 
there  were  about  400  additions  to  the  church.     During 
much  of  the  last  year  of  this  pastorate  he  had  been  in 

[512] 


Biographical  Sketches 

declining  health,  and  died  in  the  Presbyterian  Manse, 
in  Charlotte,  January  2,  1911.  The  remains  were 
taken  to  Groton,  Connecticut,  and  there  buried. 

Dr.  Kincaid  was  a  man  of  superior  natural  gifts 
to  which  was  added  the  refinement  of  generous  culture. 
He  was  a  preacher  of  great  ability,  and  in  all  of  the 
churches  to  which  he  ministered,  all  of  them  influential 
churches,  he  met  with  large  success.  The  gospel  which 
he  preached  was  the  gospel  of  hope  and  consolation  and 
good  cheer.  In  the  latter  years  of  his  ministry  he  be- 
came more  and  more  interested  in  the  study  of  sociol- 
ogy, and  felt  that  the  Church  should  give  more  heed  to 
applying  the  great  principles  of  Christianity  to  the  so- 
cial problems  of  the  day.  One  who  knew  him  has  de- 
scribed as  follows  his  manner  in  the  pulpit:  "In 
beginning  the  delivery  of  his  sermon  it  was  his  wont  to 
step  to  the  right  of  the  pulpit,  and  without  manuscript 
or  notes,  to  speak  in  a  manner  which  impressed  the 
hearer  with  the  richness  of  his  vocabulary,  the  fluency 
of  his  utterance,  the  retentiveness  of  his  memory,  and 
the  earnestness  of  his  desire  to  be  a  blessing  to  others 
and  to  promote  the  Lord's  Kingdom.''  The  Univer- 
sity of  Chicago  recognized  his  ability  in  appointing  him 
as  one  of  the  preachers  to  the  university. 

He  was  especially  successful  as  a  pastor,  being  par- 
ticularly happy  in  his  ministrations  to  the  sick  and  af- 
flicted. By  his  genial  disposition,  sympathetic  nature, 
courtesy  of  bearing,  and  affability  of  manner,  he 
impressed  himself  not  only  upon  his  own  people, 
but  upon  the  city  and  community  in  which  he 
lived. 

In  1888  Williams  conferred  upon  him  the  honorary 
degree  of  Master  of  Arts,  and  in  1904  the  degree  of 
Doctor  of  Divinity. 

Dr.  Kincaid  married  first,  on  December  18,  1875, 
in  Cortland,  New  York,  Miss  Emily  M.  Purinton,  who 

[513] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

died  April  13,  1877.  A  daughter  by  this  marriage  died 
in  infancy. 

He  married  secondly,  on  March  20,  1882,  at  Santa 
Ana,  California,  Miss  Ellen  Douglas,  of  New  Lon- 
don, Connecticut,  daughter  of  A.  T.  and  Delia 
(Latham)  Douglas,  granddaughter  of  Daniel  and 
Delia  (Denison)  Douglas,  and  a  descendant  of  William 
Latham,  who  came  to  America  from  England.  By 
this  marriage  he  had  two  daughters  and  two  sons.  One 
daughter  and  the  two  sons  are  living:  Mrs.  Arthur  Har- 
ris Thompson;  Archibald  Douglas  Kincaid;  and  Wil- 
liam Morris  Kincaid,  Jr. 

Mrs.  Kincaid  survived  her  husband  and  now  re- 
sides in  New  York  City. 

Other  references  to  Dr.  Kincaid's  character  and 
work  will  be  found  in  the  appended  letter  which  was 
prepared  by  his  classmate  and  friend,  Chancellor 
George  E.  MacLean,  LL.D. 

London,  England,  November  27,  1911. 
My  Dear  Professor  Hewitt: 

Your  letter  of  inquiry  of  November  1  has  followed 
me  here. 

I  count  it  a  privilege  to  aid  you  with  reference  to 
any  biographical  sketch  of  my  beloved  classmate  and 
roommate  the  Rev.  William  M.  Kincaid,  D.D. 

He  entered  Williams  with  advanced  standing  from 
Utica  Academy  at  the  beginning  of  Sophomore  year. 
He  joined  D.  K.  E.  and  he  and  I  became  roommates- 
first  in  the  Bar  dwell  house,  standing  where  the  Mark 
Hopkins  Hall  now  is,  and  second  in  Prof.  Phillips' 
house,  then  taken  over  by  the  D.  K.  E.'s  and  standing 
where  Morgan  Hall  does. 

I  had  joined  my  home  church  in  Great  Barrington 
in  September,  1868.  Kincaid  was  not  a  professed 
Christian  when  he  entered.  He  was  the  first  person  I 

[514] 


Biographical  Sketches 

ever  approached  with  reference  to  personal  religion.  I 
shall  never  forget  the  trepidation  with  which  I  went  to 
his  room,  before  we  came  together  as  roommates,  or  the 
earnestness  with  which  he  responded  when  I  broached 
the  subject  of  religion  and  we  prayed  together.  He 
joined,  I  think,  that  same  year  the  Dutch  Reformed 
Church  at  his  home  in  Utica.  His  father  was  of 
Scotch  Presbyterian  descent  and  a  railroad  conductor 
on  the  New  York  Central  Railroad.  He  was  a  popular 
man  of  strong  physique  and  character. 

His  mother  was  a  descendant  of  the  French  Hugue- 
nots and  a  devout  Baptist.  She  often  sent  us  boxes  of 
dainties,  which  Kincaid  delighted  to  share  with  the  boys. 
He  was  an  adept  as  a  cook  and  frequently  gave  spreads. 
His  refined  and  feminine  nature  made  him  the  house- 
keeper among  us.  He  was  much  given  to  reading  and 
early  had  a  wide  acquaintance  with  standard  authors 
and  a  delight  in  gathering  rare  and  elegantly  bound 
works. 

Upon  graduation,  through  the  influence  of  his 
mother  he  entered  the  Baptist  Theological  Seminary 
at  Rochester,  New  York,  and  entered  the  Baptist 
ministry. 

His  first  pastorate,  I  believe,  was  in  Cortland,  New 
York,  where  he  lost  his  first  wife. 

His  second  pastorate  was  in  Rondout,  New  York, 
where  he  married  a  young  lady  in  his  congregation, — 
Miss  Ellen  Douglas,  who  survives  him.  They  had 
four  children,  Anna,  Douglas,  Mary  and  William. 
They  lost  Mary — a  beautiful  child  of  three  or  four 
years  of  age,  whose  memory  was  ever  very  precious  to 
him. 

From  Rondout  he  was  called  to  the  pastorate  of  the 
First  Baptist  Church  of  San  Francisco — the  leading 
church  of  that  denomination  on  the  coast. 

He  had  a  most  successful  ministry  of  some  nine 

[515] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

years  there.  He  came  to  have  conscientious  scruples 
about  remaining  in  the  Baptist  Church,  as  he  had  out- 
grown the  belief  in  close  communion,  and  had  come  to 
a  belief  in  infant  baptism.  In  the  latter  point  doubt- 
less, with  his  affectionate  nature,  he  was  constrained  by 
the  feeling  that  his  children  should  be  baptized.  He 
therefore,  contrary  to  the  wish  of  his  congregation, 
resigned. 

He  immediately  had  three  opportunities  of  settle- 
ment— one  in  Harlem,  New  York — one  in  a  Congrega- 
tional church,  Sioux  Falls,  South  Dakota — and  one  in 
Andrew  Presbyterian  Church,  Minneapolis,  Minnesota. 

He  accepted  the  latter.  During  his  nine  years'  pas- 
torate there  a  Gothic  stone  edifice  succeeded  one  of 
wood,  and  he  attracted  a  great  number  of  students  from 
the  University  of  Minnesota  to  his  congregation. 

His  Bible  class  was  largely  attended.  His  ser- 
mons, delivered  without  manuscript,  were  always  of  a 
high  level,  with  pith  and  point,  and  many  literary 
illustrations. 

Theologically  he  was  broad,  without  indifferentism, 
and  always  spiritual. 

He  was  called  from  Minneapolis  to  the  Union 
Church  in  Honolulu — the  great  mother-church  of  the 
Hawaiian  Islands. 

Among  his  predecessors  had  been  Beckwith,  also 
a  Williams  man. 

After  being  virtually  the  Bishop  of  the  Hawaiian 
Islands  for  nine  years  he  resigned,  the  climate  not 
agreeing  with  his  wife,  and  his  plain  speaking  at  a  Mo- 
honk  Conference  concerning  political  and  economic 
conditions  in  the  Islands  having  given  offence  to  some 
of  the  rich  sugar  planters  in  his  congregation. 

He  purchased  a  plantation  in  Virginia  with  the 
thought  of  retiring. 

He   was    soon   called   to    the    First    Presbyterian 

[516] 


Biographical  Sketches 

Church  of  Charlotte,  North  Carolina, — a  leading  church 
of  the  South, — which  increased  from  a  membership  of 
700  to  1000  in  his  short  pastorate  of  three  years  termi- 
nated by  his  death,  January  2,  1911.  It  was  my  privi- 
lege to  visit  him  there  just  a  year  ago,  and  to  know  of 
the  great  work  he  was  doing  and  the  high  esteem  in 
which  he  was  held.  The  ripeness  of  his  scholarship  and 
pulpit  powers,  supplemented  by  his  indefatigable  pas- 
toral work,  so  consonant  with  his  sympathetic  nature, 
made  him  as  greatly  beloved  as  he  was  respected.  The 
dominant  note  of  his  character  was  affection.  His  every 
instinct  was  refined  and  artistic.  He  belonged  there- 
fore to  the  prophetic  order  of  preachers.  With  a 
slightly  different  early  environment  he  would  have  been 
an  artist.  As  it  was,  he  deeply  enjoyed  art,  was  fond 
of  music  and  a  leader  in  the  singing  of  his  congregation. 
He  was  a  connoisseur  in  house-furnishing — so  that  his 
house  became  the  house  beautiful,  adorned  by  works  of 
art  and  rare  specimens  of  antique  furniture. 

His  home  was  the  setting  for  the  gem  he  prized 
above  all  earthly  things — his  wife.  She  was  just  fitted 
to  be  his  helpmeet. 

You  will  notice  that  Kincaid  was  not  a  missionary, 
in  the  ordinary  sense,  to  the  Sandwich  Islands. 

The  address  of  his  widow  is  Mrs.  William  M.  Kin- 
caid, Hatton  Grange,  Hatton,  Albemarle  County,  Vir- 
ginia. She  doubtless  will  be  able  to  give  you  exact 
dates  and  any  details  you  desire.  His  daughter  Anna 
is  also  at  Hatton  Grange,  the  wife  of  Arthur  Thomp- 
son, sometime  a  student  in  the  class  of  1907  at  Wil- 
liams, and  a  brother  of  Mr.  Thompson,  a  member  of 
the  class  of  1913, 1  think,  at  Williams — a  son  of  Charles 
R.  Thompson  of  Minneapolis. 

Mrs.  MacLean  and  I  join  in  sincere  regards  to  you 
and  yours.  Faithfully  yours, 

GEORGE  E.  MACLEAN. 

[617] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

CLASS  OF  1872 

GEORGE  ALFRED  FORD,  son  of  Rev.  Joshua  Edwards 
and  Mary  (Perry)  Ford,  and  grandson  of  George  W. 
and  Mary  (Edwards)  Ford,  was  born  at  Aleppo, 
Syria,  May  31,  1851.  His  great-grandfather,  on  his 
father's  side,  Major  Mahlon  Ford,  was  an  officer  in  the 
Revolutionary  Army.  His  grandfather  on  his  moth- 
er's side  was  Dr.  Alfred  Perry,  of  Williamstown,  and 
formerly  of  Stockbridge,  Massachusetts,  a  graduate  of 
this  college  in  the  class  of  1803.  His  father,  Rev. 
Joshua  Edwards  Ford,  was  graduated  from  this  col- 
lege in  1844,  and  was  for  nearly  twenty  years  a  mis- 
sionary in  Syria. 

The  son  entered  college  as  a  Freshman  and  became 
a  prominent  member  of  his  class.  He  was  a  member 
of  the  Philotechnian  and  Mills  Theological  Societies,  in 
each  of  which  he  held  at  different  times  the  offices  of 
president,  secretary,  and  treasurer.  He  was  also  a 
member  of  the  Lyceum  of  Natural  History ;  and  of  the 
Williams  Gymnastic  Organization.  He  received  an 
honorable  mention  in  French;  was  a  speaker  at  the 
Moonlight  Exhibition  of  his  Junior  year;  was  one  of 
the  disputants  for  the  Philotechnian  Society  at  the 
Adelphic  Union  Debate,  July  24,  1872;  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  College  Choir ;  and  was  chairman  of  the  Com- 
mittee on  Songs  for  the  Class  Day.  At  Commence- 
ment he  had  a  dissertation  on  a  subject  which  had  been 
treated  by  his  father  at  graduation,  twenty-eight  years 
before:  "Make  Haste  Slowly." 

After  graduation  he  spent  a  year  in  Sabbath-school 
and  church  work  at  the  White  Oaks  Mission,  which  had 
been  developed  by  Professor  Albert  Hopkins,  and 
which  had  been  cared  for  by  him  till  the  time  of  his 
death  in  1872.  Besides  caring  for  the  religious  work, 
Mr.  Ford  taught  the  district  school  in  that  place.  He 
then  pursued  the  full  three  years'  course  in  theology  at 

[518] 


Biographical  Sketches 

Union  Seminary,  where  he  was  graduated  in  1876.  On 
November  13  of  the  same  year,  he  was  ordained  by 
Presbytery,  at  Hudson,  New  York,  having  already  as- 
sumed charge  of  a  Presbyterian  church  in  Ramapo, 
Rockland  County,  New  York,  where  he  remained  four 
years,  spending  one  winter  during  that  time  in  post- 
graduate studies  at  the  seminary.  In  May,  1880,  he 
sailed  from  New  York,  under  appointment  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  to  Syria,  his  na- 
tive land,  having  permission  from  the  Board  to  spend 
some  months  in  Great  Britain  and  on  the  Continent  at 
his  own  expense. 

Arriving  in  Syria  on  January  6,  1881,  he  was  im- 
mediately assigned  to  the  station  at  Sidon,  where  he 
became  the  colleague  of  Rev.  William  K.  Eddy 
(Princeton  1875),  who  had  been  his  companion  in 
childhood  in  the  same  city,  where  their  fathers,  both 
Williams  College  graduates,  had  been  associated  as 
missionaries  previous  to  1865.  Mr.  Ford  was  con- 
nected with  the  regular  work  in  Sidon  from  January, 
1881  to  1894,  with  the  exception  of  a  year  or  more  in 
Zaleh,  Mount  Lebanon,  and  some  months  in  Beirut, 
when  called  to  fill  vacancies  caused  by  death  or  absence 
of  other  missionaries.  Much  of  his  work  here  con- 
sisted in  itinerating  and  making  visits  to  out-stations. 
As  much  time  has  thus  to  be  spent  in  the  saddle,  Sidon 
has  been  called  the  "Horseback  Station." 

Mr.  Ford  interested  himself  greatly  in  the  estab- 
lishment of  an  industrial  department  in  the  training 
schools  of  the  mission,  and  it  was  largely  due  to  his  in- 
fluence that  in  1895  industrial  training  was  begun  as 
an  integral  part  of  Sidon  Academy,  now  Gerard  Insti- 
tute. He  was  for  a  time  superintendent  of  this  insti- 
tution. At  present  he  is  Professor  of  New  Testament 
Theology  and  the  Life  of  Christ  in  Beirut  Theological 
Seminary. 

[519] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

In  an  exceedingly  interesting  article  on  "Evangeli- 
cal Missions  in  Syria,"  published  in  the  Missionary  Re- 
view of  the  World  for  1893,  Dr.  Ford  has  given  the 
following  description  of  the  Syrian  people:  "With  some 
very  serious  and  trying  faults,  the  Syrians  are  a  gifted 
race.  They  are  keen,  quick,  calculating,  versatile, 
thrifty,  kind-hearted,  and  hospitable,  ready  in  speech, 
and  with  special  aptitude  for  languages.  Nature  has 
done  her  part  toward  fitting  them  to  be  the  missionary 
leaven  among  the  scores  of  millions  who  may  be  reached 
by  Arabic.  Providence  also  has  been  paving  the  way 
by  the  remarkable  revival  among  them  of  education  and 
civilization,  and  now  by  their  new  passion  for  emigra- 
tion, that  has  planted  temporarily  not  less  than  30,000 
of  them  in  Australia,  Brazil,  and  the  United  States. 
When  grace  shall  have  taken  strong  possession,  is  it  too 
much  to  expect  that  some  happy  day,  in  the  not  very 
distant  future,  they  will  fill  in  Oriental  missions  some 
such  place  as  their  Phoenician  ancestors  did  in 
commerce?" 

Dr.  Ford  was  present  at  the  Centennial  Celebra- 
tion of  his  Alma  Mater  in  October,  1893,  and  delivered 
one  of  the  addresses  given  on  that  occasion  at  a  Con- 
ference on  "The  Relation  of  the  Modern  College  to 
Applied  Christianity." 

In  1894  he  received  from  Williams  the  honorary 
degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity. 

He  was  married  in  1906  to  Miss  Katherine  Booth, 
daughter  of  William  A.  Booth,  Esq.,  of  New  York. 


CLASS  OF  1873 

CHABLES  WILLIAM  CALHOUN,  only  son  of  Rev. 
Simeon  Howard  Calhoun,  D.D.  (Williams  1829),  and 
Emily  P.  (Raynolds)  "Calhoun,  and  grandson  of  An- 
drew and  Martha  (Chamberlin)  Calhoun,  was  born  in 

[520] 


Biographical  Sketches 

Abeih,  Syria,  February  2,  1850.  His  father  was  the 
venerable  and  eminent  missionary  in  Syria,  who  devoted 
his  life  to  the  mission  seminary  at  Abeih,  on  Mount 
Lebanon.  His  mother  belonged  to  a  missionary  fam- 
ily, being  sister  to  Rev.  George  Cook  Raynolds,  M.D., 
D.D.  (Williams  1861),  missionary  in  Van,  Eastern 
Turkey.  She  was  also  a  relative  of  Rev.  Dr.  Richard 
Salter  Storrs  (Williams  1807),  of  Braintree,  Massa- 
chusetts, and  at  the  time  of  her  marriage  had  been  seven 
years  a  resident  in  his  family.  In  his  grandparents 
were  united  the  Scotch  and  the  Protestant  Irish  ele- 
ments, and  from  both  he  inherited  great  strength  of 
character.  The  family  to  which  the  father  belonged  was 
a  remarkable  one.  All  of  the  several  sons  became  men 
of  influence,  and  some  achieved  high  positions  in  the 
councils  of  the  nation. 

The  son  fitted  for  college  with  the  Rev.  Nathaniel 
Herrick  Griffin,  D.D.  (Williams  1834),  in  Williams- 
town,  Massachusetts.  In  college  he  was  a  member  of 
the  Philotechnian  Society  and  the  Mills  Theological  So- 
ciety ;  also  of  the  Lyceum  of  Natural  History,  of  which 
he  was  a  vice-president,  secretary  and,  for  one  year,  the 
curator;  and  was  also  director  of  the  departments  of 
conchology  and  ornithology  in  the  same  society.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  Williams  Gymnastic  Organiza- 
tion. On  Class  Day  he  was  the  Historian. 

After  graduation,  he  went  to  Syria,  seeing  some- 
thing of  Europe  on  the  way.  After  studying  some  the- 
ology with  his  father,  he  was  for  two  years  tutor  in  the 
Syrian  Protestant  College.  After  travelling  through 
Palestine,  visiting  Damascus  and  Egypt,  he  returned 
to  the  United  States  and  pursued  a  course  of  theology 
at  Union  Seminary,  graduating  in  1878.  He  was  or- 
dained in  Williamstown,  May  7,  1879,  Dr.  Hopkins 
preaching  the  sermon,  President  Chadbourne  giving 
the  charge,  and  his  former  college  and  seminary  room- 

[521] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

mate  and  subsequent  co-laborer,  Rev.  George  A.  Ford, 
D.D.  (Williams  1872) ,  giving  the  right  hand  of  fellow- 
ship. In  1879,  he  was  graduated  at  the  University 
Medical  School  in  New  York  City,  having  completed 
his  term  of  service  in  Flatbush  Hospital.  In  August  of 
the  same  year  he  sailed  as  a  missionary  of  the  Presbyte- 
rian Board,  under  appointment  as  a  missionary  physi- 
cian, for  Tripoli,  Syria.  Rarely  has  one  gone  forth  to 
labor  in  a  foreign  field  more  thoroughly  equipped  for 
his  work  than  he,  combining,  as  he  did,  in  his  person  so 
rich  an  inheritance  of  character  from  ancestry,  so  inti- 
mate a  knowledge  of  the  field,  and  so  broad  and  fine  a 
culture  of  the  mind.  Before  he  had  been  in  Syria  a  year 
he  received  but  refused  the  flattering  offer  of  the  pro- 
fessorship of  materia  medica,  hygiene,  and  zoology  in 
the  Syrian  Protestant  College.  Subsequently  occupy- 
ing for  a  short  time  the  chair  of  pathology,  he  was 
urged  to  remain  as  professor  of  that  subject.  This  he 
also  declined,  as  he  did  subsequently  the  offer  of  the 
chair  of  obstetrics  in  the  same  institution.  He  was 
eager  to  be  among  the  people,  ministering  to  the  needs 
both  of  their  bodies  and  their  souls.  Furthermore,  he 
felt  that  his  father  on  entering  into  his  own  rest  ex- 
pected that  this  only  son  would  carry  forward  the  great 
work  the  father  had  so  nobly  begun.  His  knowledge  of 
the  Arabic  language  and  acquaintance  with  the  nature 
of  the  Syrian  people  gave  him  ready  access  to  their 
hearts  and  homes.  Though  for  a  time  he  met  with  petty 
persecutions  at  the  hands  of  the  local  Turkish  authori- 
ties, at  the  instigation  of  a  rival  native  physician,  he  was 
eminently  active  and  useful,  performing  many  difficult 
surgical  operations.  He  paid  some  attention  to  leprosy 
also,  and  at  the  time  of  his  death  he  had  published  one 
paper  on  the  subject,  and  was  preparing  a  series  of  such 
papers,  with  photographs.  But  not  all  of  his  time  was 
taken  up  with  the  practice  of  medicine.  In  a  letter  writ- 

[522] 


Biographical  Sketches 

ten  to  his  college  classmates  but  a  few  weeks  before  his 
death  he  speaks  of  his  varied  duties.  "My  time,"  he 
writes,  "is  taken  up  in  the  study  of  Arabic,  in  calling  on 
the  people  in  addition  to  seeing  patients  from  two  to 
six,  and  especially  in  making  tours  into  the  interior, 
using  my  medical  and  surgical  skill  as  a  means  of  reach- 
ing the  hearts  of  the  people.  I  treat  every  year  over 
2000  patients,  and  am  known  as  the  'American  Doc- 
tor, the  Father  of  the  Poor.'  But  the  greater  part  of 
my  time  is  taken  up  in  preaching,  in  holding  meetings 
in  the  evenings  in  villages,  in  examining  schools  which 
are  scattered  throughout  the  land,  and  in  conversation 
with  individuals  on  the  all-important  subject  of  the  sal- 
vation of  their  souls.  I  am  enabled  to  reach  the  be- 
nighted Catholics  and  Moslems  of  almost  every  village 
and  town,  both  large  and  small."  It  was  in  an  extended 
tour  made  through  Northern  Syria  that  he  contracted  a 
malarial  fever,  which,  with  paralysis  of  the  heart, 
brought  his  useful  life  to  a  close  at  the  early  age  of  33. 
He  died  at  Schweifat,  Mt.  Lebanon,  June  22,  1883. 
The  funeral  was  attended  at  Schweifat  by  a  great  com- 
pany from  the  surrounding  country,  and  the  next  day 
the  remains  were  carried  to  Beirut,  where,  after  further 
services  in  the  church,  they  were  buried.  He  was  un- 
married; he  left  to  mourn  his  untimely  loss  a  widowed 
mother  and  three  sisters,  in  whose  great  sorrow  thou- 
sands in  this  land  shared. 

"He  was  beloved  by  his  associates  and  was  ardently 
devoted  to  the  missionary  work,  having  declined  a  posi- 
tion in  Beirut  College.  He  had  inherited  from  his 
father,  the  patriarch  of  the  Lebanons,  qualities  which 
peculiarly  fitted  him  for  his  work, — rare  amiability, 
deep  devotion,  absolute  intrepidity,  untiring  patience, 
and  a  mind  gifted  with  that  statesmanship  of  missions 
which  is  building  an  empire  for  Christ  in  the  Eastern 
Mediterranean  countries." 

[523] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

Dr.  H.  H.  Jessup  wrote  of  him:  "He  was  genial, 
courteous,  full  of  good  humor,  a  most  skillful  surgeon, 
familiar  with  the  Arabic  colloquial  from  his  childhood. 
These  traits  made  him  very  popular.  He  could  sleep 
anywhere,  on  a  mat  or  on  the  ground,  and  eat  the  coars- 
est and  most  unpalatable  Arab  food  with  a  relish. 

"His  consistent  Christian  walk  and  self-denying 
labors  exemplified  the  religion  he  professed  and 
preached." 

The  following  extract  is  from  a  minute  passed  by  the 
class  of  1873  at  their  Decennial  Reunion  and  addressed 
to  the  mother  and  sisters:  "Calhoun  loved  us  all,  and  we 
all  loved  him ;  no  name  was  more  closely  connected  with 
the  life  of  our  class,  as  a  class,  nor  was  any  individuality 
more  strongly  marked  than  his.  The  class  of  '73  would 
have  been  a  different  class  without  Calhoun.  His  over- 
flowing spirits,  his  keen  relish  of  a  joke,  his  enthusiastic 
loyalty  to  his  class, — these  were  characteristics  which 
even  a  superficial  acquaintance  could  not  but  reveal, 
and  which  made  him  always  and  everywhere  a  favorite. 
But  those  who  knew  him  best  saw  in  him  other  and  bet- 
ter things  than  these.  A  simple  and  childlike  faith,  a 
love  that  could  not  do  too  much  for  his  friends,  and  a 
genuine  enthusiasm  in  his  chosen  pursuits, — these 
things  already  gave  promise  of  the  devoted  life  so  sud- 
denly cut  off." 

CLASS  OF  1874 

JAMES  EDWARD  TRACY,  the  youngest  of  the  six  chil- 
dren of  Rev.  William  Tracy,  D.D.,  and  Emily  Frances 
(Travelli)  Tracy,  was  born  July  4,  1850,  at  Pasumalai, 
Madura  District,  India.  He  was  the  son  of  missionary 
parents  and  was  born  on  missionary  ground.  He  was 
the  grandson  of  David  and  Susannah  (Capron)  Tracy. 
David  Tracy,  who  was  born  in  Lisbon,  Connecticut, 
was  for  eleven  years  Inspector  of  Customs  for  the  port 

[524] 


Biographical  Sketches 

of  Norwich,  Connecticut,  and  a  member  of  the  State 
Legislature  in  1824. 

The  family  traces  its  descent  from  Lieutenant 
Thomas  Tracy,  who  emigrated  from  England  and  set- 
tled in  Norwich,  1660.  The  father,  William  Tracy, 
who  was  born  in  Norwich,  and  was  the  fourth  son  of  ten 
children,  at  first  learned  the  trade  of  a  tinsmith,  which 
trade  he  followed  for  three  years  in  Philadelphia,  before 
studying  for  the  ministry.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
class  of  1833  in  this  college  for  about  three  years  but 
did  not  graduate,  and  studied  theology  at  Andover  and 
Princeton  Seminaries.  He  was  for  over  forty  years  a 
missionary  in  India,  being  stationed  successively  at  Tir- 
umangalam,  Pasumalai,  and  Tirupuvanam,  where  he 
died,  November  28,  1877.  He  achieved  large  success 
as  a  teacher,  preacher,  and  translator.  Soon  after  go- 
ing to  Tirumangalam  he  opened  there  a  boarding-school 
which  developed  into  a  seminary,  which,  being  subse- 
quently removed  to  Pasumalai,  grew  into  a  college. 
He  received  the  honorary  degree  of  Master  of  Arts 
from  this  college  in  1853,  and  the  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Divinity  from  the  University  of  Western  Pennsylva- 
nia, in  1868.  His  three  sons  were  graduated  at  this 
college.  His  marked  characteristics  were  singleness  of 
purpose,  high  ideals,  patience,  gentleness  of  manner. 

In  this  missionary  home,  where  the  home  life  was 
somewhat  isolated,  so  far  as  childhood  companions  were 
concerned,  but  full  of  tenderest  love,  James  Tracy 
spent  his  boyhood  till  he  was  thirteen  years  of  age.  He 
fitted  for  college  in  Norwich  Free  Academy,  and  en- 
tered Williams  with  the  class  at  the  beginning  of  Fresh- 
man year.  He  became  a  member  of  the  Mills  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association,  of  which  he  was  one  of  the 
presidents  and  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Directors, 
and  in  which  he  was  a  member  of  the  committee  on 
Sunday-school  work.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Philolo- 

[525] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

gian  Society;  of  the  Lyceum  of  Natural  History;  of 
the  Dramatic  Club ;  of  the  Williams  Gymnastic  Organ- 
ization; and  of  the  Boxing  Club.  He  was  an  editor 
of  the  Williams  Review,  and  one  of  the  secretaries  of 
his  class.  He  took  the  first  Sophomore  prize  at  a  Rhe- 
torical Exhibition  and  had  an  Oration  for  an  appoint- 
ment at  Commencement,  when  he  gave  an  address  on 
the  subject  "Intensity." 

After  graduation,  he  studied  theology  at  Union 
Park  Seminary,  Chicago,  and  at  Union  Seminary,  New 
York  City,  graduating  from  the  latter  in  1877.  He 
was  ordained  as  an  evangelist  June  27  of  the  same  year. 

On  September  1  of  that  year,  he  and  his  wife,  under 
the  appointment  of  the  American  Board,  sailed  from 
New  York  for  Liverpool,  on  the  way  to  join  the  Ma- 
dura Mission,  India.  His  going  to  India  was  a  return 
to  scenes  familiar  to  his  boyhood,  and  he  had  the  rare 
joy  of  being  welcomed  to  his  work  by  his  venerable 
parents,  who,  after  two  score  years  of  faithful  service, 
were  ready  to  pass  over  some  of  their  labors  to  other 
hands.  He  was  located  at  first  at  Tirupuvanam.  Be- 
ing "to  the  manner  born,"  familiar  with  the  language 
and  with  the  characteristics  and  customs  of  the  people, 
he  had  the  great  advantage  of  beginning  efficient  work 
at  once.  This  work  consisted  largely  of  preaching  and 
superintending  native  preachers  and  teachers,  along 
with  some  literary  work.  But  when  he  arrived  at  his 
station  the  famine  was  at  its  height,  and  the  work  of 
relief  distribution  wras  no  light  additional  burden.  His 
letters  in  the  Missionary  Herald,  from  the  first,  speak 
of  religious  interest  and  success.  After  five  years  of 
service  he  could  report  455  native  Christians  in  his  field 
in  place  of  318,  and  84  church  members  instead  of  69, 
while  the  amount  contributed  by  native  Christians  had 
increased  from  59  rupees  to  over  200. 

At  the  beginning  of  1883  he  removed  from  Tirupu- 

[526] 


Biographical  Sketches 

vanam  to  Tirumangalam,  but  retained  the  superintend- 
ence of  the  former  place  also.  The  letters  from  this  new 
station  speak  of  accessions  to  the  churches,  increased 
offerings,  and  erection  of  new  buildings  for  worship. 
The  following  extract  is  from  Mr.  Tracy's  account  of 
the  observance  of  a  New  Year's  day  at  Tirupuvanam: 
"The  morning  was  occupied  in  'receiving'  the  people's 
greetings,  group  by  group,  saying  a  few  words  either 
of  encouragement  or  comfort  to  each  group.  One  new 
congregation  was  represented,  having  been  gathered 
during  the  past  year.  After  all  had  presented  their 
wreaths  of  flowers  and  fragrant  limes,  and  been  dis- 
missed, the  various  schools  came  in  their  order,  and 
after  singing  a  song  and  wishing  us  a  happy  New  Year, 
they,  too,  withdrew. 

"The  event  of  the  day — as  it  has  been  from  the  first 
—was  the  service  of  offerings  at  noon.  Each  family 
brought  or  sent  its  little  kalium,  or  earthen  box  of  offer- 
ings for  the  year;  and  some  brought,  in  addition,  arti- 
cles for  sale,  such  as  fowls,  palm-leaf  fans,  mats,  etc., 
the  proceeds  of  which  were  to  be  added  as  offerings. 
This  is  a  scene  in  which  I  always  take  particular  pleas- 
ure, because  it  shows  the  fruits  of  real  self-denial  on  the 
part  of  very  poor  people.  The  whole  sum  of  the 
offerings  was  larger  than  that  of  the  last  year,  and  there 
has  been  a  constant  increase  from  year  to  year.  The 
total  of  seventy-five  rupees — no  mean  offering  when 
thoughtfully  weighed — shows  that  there  has  been  no 
backward  going  and  is  promise  of  still  further 
progress." 

In  1885-86,  owing  to  the  absence  of  Rev.  W.  S. 
Howland,  another  large  station  was  left  to  his  care, 
and  the  added  anxiety,  together  with  worry  about  finan- 
cial matters,  injured  Mr.  Tracy's  health,  and  though 
he  continued  his  work  for  another  two  years,  he  then,  by 
medical  advice,  came  to  this  country  for  a  change. 

[527] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

Some  idea  of  the  extent  of  the  work  which  he  superin- 
tended may  be  gathered  from  the  report  sent  to  the 
Board  in  1888  to  the  effect  that  in  the  previous  year 
forty  itineraries  had  been  undertaken  and  that  over 
136,000  had  heard  the  gospel  message.  During  six 
months  of  that  year  twenty-four  catechists  had 
preached  in  various  places  to  over  100,000  people. 

After  his  return  to  India  in  1891,  he  was  located 
at  Periakulam,  where  he  met  with  encouraging  success, 
though  greatly  hampered  at  times  by  the  reduction  in 
appropriations  made  by  the  Board.  In  1902  he  and 
his  wife  again  visited  this  country,  and  about  1905  he 
began  doing  some  work  at  Kodikanal,  some  sixty  miles 
northwest  of  Madura,  and  is  at  present  located  there. 
It  is  hoped  that  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Tracy  have  before  them 
many  years  of  happy,  useful  service. 

Mr.  Tracy  received  the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor 
of  Divinity  from  this  college  in  1896. 

He  married,  August  1,  1877,  Miss  Fanny  Sabin 
Woodcock  of  South  Williamstown,  Massachusetts. 
There  were  born  to  them  two  children:  Christine  Ma- 
bel Tracy,  a  teacher,  who  died  in  Annville,  Kentucky, 
April  28,  1912;  and  Royal  D.  Tracy,  a  professional 
actor. 

Besides  the  letters  which  have  appeared  in  the  Mis- 
sionary Herald,  Dr.  Tracy  has  published  various 
pamphlets  on  Indian  Numismatics,  and  occasional 
lectures. 

CLASS  OF  1875 

Louis  AGASSIZ  GOULD,  son  of  Dr.  A.  A.  Gould,  was 
born  in  Boston,  Massachusetts,  June  4,  1855.  The 
father  was  one  of  the  most  prominent  of  American 
zoologists  and  was  a  joint  author  with  Agassiz  of  one 
of  the  best  zoological  text-books.  He  also  published  a 
treatise  on  the  Shells  of  the  Wilkes  Expedition. 

[628] 


Biographical  Sketches 

The  son  obtained  his  preliminary  education  in  Bos- 
ton. When  he  entered  college  in  1871,  his  father  being 
dead,  the  family  removed  to  Williamstown.  In  col- 
lege he  was  a  member  of  the  Philotechnian  Society; 
received  the  first  Benedict  prize  in  French,  and  one  of 
the  Junior  prizes  at  the  Rhetorical  Exhibition;  was  a 
member  of  the  Senior  Expedition  to  Newport  and 
Nahant  under  the  guidance  of  Professor  Tenney;  was 
a  member  of  the  Club  Crew  Rowing  Association  and  of 
the  Class  Nine ;  was  general  superintendent  of  the  Wil- 
liams Telegraph  Association;  at  the  Class  Day  Exer- 
cises he  was  Prophet  on  Prophet;  and  was  one  of  the 
speakers  at  Commencement,  his  appointment  being  a 
Dissertation,  and  the  subject  of  his  address,  "The  Se- 
cret of  Success." 

After  graduation  he  studied  theology  at  the  Roch- 
ester Theological  Seminary,  from  which  he  was  grad- 
uated in  1879.  He  was  ordained  at  Holley,  New  York, 
on  June  5  of  the  same  year,  and  was  pastor  there  from 
that  date  until  January,  1884.  From  June,  1885,  to 
December,  1886,  he  was  associate  pastor  at  Fall  River, 
Massachusetts.  He  then  received  an  appointment  as  a 
missionary  to  China  from  the  American  Baptist  For- 
eign Mission  Society.  From  August,  1888,  to  August, 
1889,  he  was  located  at  Ningpo,  and  from  the  latter 
date  to  October,  1893,  he  was  at  Shaohing.  On  account 
of  his  own  health  and  especially  that  of  his  wife,  who 
completely  broke  down  in  1893,  he  was  obliged  to  relin- 
quish his  missionary  work  in  China  and  return  to  this 
country.  From  October,  1893,  to  May,  1894,  he  was 
acting  pastor  at  Racine,  Wisconsin;  from  June,  1894, 
to  July,  1897,  he  was  pastor  at  Highland  Park,  Illinois; 
and  from  January,  1898,  to  1901  he  was  pastor  at 
Shelby ville,  Indiana.  From  the  latter  date  to  1906,  he 
held  pastorates  at  Santa  Monica,  Occidental  Heights, 
Downey,  and  in  other  churches  in  Los  Angeles. 

[629] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

In  the  Class  History  issued  in  1895,  he  was  reported 
as  married  and  as  having  two  daughters,  aged  five  and 
two  years  respectively.  He  resides  in  Los  Angeles, 
California. 

ISAAC  HEYER  POLHEMUS,  son  of  Abraham  and 
Eliza  B.  (Heyer)  Polhemus,  was  born  in  Hopewell, 
New  York,  March  3,  1853.  He  is  the  grandson  of 
Abraham  and  Cornelia  (Suydam)  Polhemus  and  of 
Isaac  and  Jane  (Suydam)  Heyer.  The  immigrant  an- 
cestor was  the  Rev.  Johannes  Theodorus  Polhemus,  of 
Holland,  who  came  to  "New  Amsterdam"  in  1654,  from 
Itamarca,  Brazil,  where  he  had  been  a  missionary. 
Among  the  more  distinguished  ancestors  of  Mr.  Pol- 
hemus was  Eleazar  Polhemus,  of  whom  the  "Annals  of 
Newtown"  states  that  he  was  "a  learned  jurist,  Burgo- 
master at  Antwerp,  Holland,  1310.  For  a  long  period 
this  name  has  held  a  distinguished  place  among  officers 
of  state  and  men  of  letters  in  the  Netherlands." 

Abraham  Polhemus,  the  father  of  the  subject  of  this 
sketch,  was  a  clergyman,  whose  marked  characteristics 
were  courtesy,  earnestness,  devotion  to  God  and  to  his 
family. 

The  early  life  of  Isaac  Heyer  Polhemus,  from  his 
fifth  to  his  fifteenth  year  of  age,  was  spent  in  Newark, 
New  Jersey,  and  his  early  education  was  obtained  in 
the  academy  at  that  place.  He  fitted  for  college  at 
Holbrook's  Military  School  at  Sing  Sing,  New  York, 
and  entered  college  as  a  Freshman  in  1871.  He  was  a 
successful  student  and  a  prominent  member  of  his  class, 
being  a  member  of  several  college  organizations  and 
engaging  in  various  college  activities.  He  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Delta  Psi  Fraternity;  of  the  Mills  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association,  of  which  he  was  one  of  the 
directors,  and  in  which  he  was  one  of  the  committee  on 
Sunday-school  work;  of  the  Lyceum  of  Natural  His- 

[  530] 


Biographical  Sketches 

tory,  in  which  he  was  for  a  time  treasurer,  and  under  the 
auspices  of  which  he  was  one  of  the  Senior  Expedition 
to  Newport  and  Nahant  under  the  direction  of  Pro- 
fessor Tenney;  he  was  a  member  of  the  Glee  Club;  of 
the  Class  Quartette;  the  College  Choir;  of  the  Class 
Baseball  Nine;  of  the  Football  Team;  of  the  Class 
Crew,  in  which  he  was  stroke ;  and  of  the  Skating  Club, 
in  which  he  was  a  director.  He  was  for  a  time  president 
of  his  class;  a  member  of  the  Shakespere  Club;  editor 
of  the  Williams  Review  and  of  the  Williams  Athe- 
naeum, being  secretary  of  the  board  of  editors;  assist- 
ant librarian  in  the  College  Library;  received  a  prize 
for  excellence  in  French;  represented  the  college  twice 
at  Intercollegiate  Conventions  in  New  York;  was 
Sophomore  Orator  at  a  Rhetorical  Exhibition,  and 
speaker  at  the  Senior  Rhetorical  Exhibition,  his  subject 
being  "Conventionality" ;  read  a  poem  at  the  Class  Sup- 
per; was  President  of  the  Class  Day  Exercises;  and 
was  one  of  the  speakers  at  Commencement,  the  subject 
of  his  oration  being  "The  Way  of  the  World." 

The  first  year  after  graduation  was  spent  in  travel 
in  England  and  on  the  Continent,  after  which  he  be- 
came a  member  of  Union  Theological  Seminary,  from 
which  he  was  graduated  in  1879.  On  June  18  of  the 
same  year  he  was  ordained  by  the  Reformed  Church  in 
Newark,  New  Jersey,  and  in  the  following  October  he 
was  appointed  missionary  to  Mexico  under  the  For- 
eign Board  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  being  settled 
for  a  year  in  Zacatecas,  and  another  year  in  Mexico 
City.  Owing  to  the  severe  illness  of  his  wife,  and  the 
failure  of  his  own  health  caused  by  the  great  trials  of  the 
mission,  he  was  obliged  to  relinquish  his  mission  work 
and  return  home. 

During  the  years  1883-1894,  he  had  charge  of  the 
mission  work  of  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church  of 
Newark,  New  Jersey.  In  this  time  he  organized  and 

[531] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

became  the  first  pastor  of  the  Fewsmith  Memorial 
Church.  Of  his  mission  work  in  Newark,  the  class  sec- 
retary wrote  that  Mr.  Polhemus  started  "his  work  in  a 
single  room,  building  the  next  year  a  chapel  seating 
300,  and  after  a  few  years  a  church  seating  900.  It  was 
an  industrial  church,  with  gymnasium,  day  nursery,  and 
other  agencies  usually  found  in  a  living  church." 

Compelled  by  reason  of  health  to  seek  a  warmer 
climate,  he  received  an  appointment  of  the  Home 
Board  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  to  Riceville,  Swan- 
nanoa,  and  Asheville,  North  Carolina,  among  the 
mountaineers,  which  position  he  held  during  the  period 
1895-97.  From  April  of  the  latter  year  to  March, 
1901,  he  was  in  charge  of  the  Young  People's  Associa- 
tion House  of  the  Fifth  Avenue  Presbyterian  Church, 
New  York  City.  In  the  spring  of  the  latter  year  he 
was  recalled  by  the  Home  Board  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  to  work  at  Marshall,  North  Carolina,  remain- 
ing there  until  March,  1903,  when  he  received  the  ap- 
pointment of  the  New  York  City  Mission  to  become 
pastor  of  the  Broome  Street  Tabernacle  during  the 
year  of  absence  of  Rev.  Dr.  John  B.  Devins.  In  Sep- 
tember, 1904,  he  was  called  to  Brooklyn,  New  York,  to 
"The  Branch"  of  the  Tompkins  Avenue  Congrega- 
tional Church.  While  keeping  his  membership  in  the 
New  York  Presbytery,  he  held  this  position  until  Sep- 
tember, 1908,  when  he  was  called  to  his  present  pastor- 
ate over  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  at  Unadilla, 
New  York. 

From  the  little  that  can  be  gleaned  from  the  history 
of  the  class  of  1875,  it  is  quite  evident  that  Mr.  Polhe- 
mus has  been  a  most  laborious  and  efficient  worker  in 
the  various  positions  he  has  occupied,  and  that,  as  the 
secretary  of  the  class  records,  his  wife  has  been  in  these 
labors  his  constant  help. 

Mr.  Polhemus  was  married  October  2,  1879,  to  Sa- 

[532] 


Biographical  Sketches 

rah,  daughter  of  Bartholomew  and    Sarah    (Wyles) 
Brown,  of  New  York. 

Of  five  children  born  to  them  two  daughters  are  liv- 
ing: Mrs.  Cornelia  C.  Burrell,  wife  of  D.  H.  Burrell, 
Jr.,  of  Little  Falls,  New  York;  and  Miss  Sarah  Heyer 
Polhemus. 

CLASS  OF  1876 

LYNDON  SMITH  CRAWFORD  was  born  in  North  Ad- 
ams, Massachusetts,  March  24,  1852.  He  was  the  son 
of  Rev.  Robert  and  Ellen  Maria  (Griffin)  Crawford, 
and  the  grandson  of  James  and  Jane  (Kennedy) 
Crawford,  and  of  Edward  Dorr  and  Frances  (Hun- 
tington)  Griffin.  On  his  father's  side  he  was  of  Scot- 
tish descent,  while  on  the  mother's  side  he  traces  his 
ancestry  to  England  and  Wales.  His  grandfather, 
James  Crawford,  emigrated  from  Paisley,  Scotland,  to 
Lanark,  Canada  West,  in  1821.  Jasper  Griffin,  an- 
other ancestor,  came  from  Wales  and  England  and 
settled. in  Southold,  Long  Island,  in  (or  about)  1636. 
Among  his  more  distinguished  ancestors  was  his  grand- 
father, Rev.  Edward  Dorr  Griffin,  D.D.,  pastor  of  the 
First  Presbyterian  Church  and,  subsequently,  of  the 
Second  Presbyterian  Church,  in  Newark,  New  Jersey, 
Professor  of  Pulpit  Eloquence  in  Andover  Theological 
Seminary,  pastor  of  Park  Street  Church,  Boston,  and 
President  of  Williams  College  from  1821  to  1836.  The 
profession  of  the  ministry  appears  often  in  the  history 
of  the  family.  The  oldest  sister  of  Mr.  Crawford  mar- 
ried Rev.  Thomas  A.  Emerson  (Yale  1863),  and  in 
doing  so  was  the  fourth  minister's  daughter,  in  the  reg- 
ular line  of  descent,  to  marry  a  minister.  That  is  to 
say,  Mr.  Crawford's  sister,  mother,  grandmother,  and 
great-grandmother  married  ministers.  And  these  min- 
isterial husbands  were  pastors  of  Congregational 
churches  in  Massachusetts  or  Connecticut.  Rev.  Eben- 

[538] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

ezer  Devotion,  who  was  a  minister  in  Suffield,  Connect- 
icut, from  1710  to  1741,  the  grandfather  of  Mr. 
Crawford's  great-grandmother  Huntington,  wras  a 
graduate  of  Harvard.  Since  then,  with  the  exception 
of  Mr.  Crawford's  father,  his  ministerial  ancestors  have 
been  graduates  of  Yale. 

Rev.  Robert  Crawford  (Williams  1836),  the  father 
of  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was  born  in  Paisley,  Scot- 
land, and  emigrated  from  there  with  his  father  to  Can- 
ada West,  from  which  he  came,  in  1826,  to  Hoosick 
Falls,  New  York,  and  thence  to  Bennington,  Vermont. 
Dr.  Lyndon  Crawford  possesses  two  interesting  heir- 
looms which  have  fallen  to  his  lot;  the  one  a  little  Bible 
which  always  stood  on  President  Griffin's  desk  in  Wil- 
liamstown,  as  previously  it  had  stood  in  his  study  in 
Newark  and  in  Boston,  well  worn  and  full  of  marks 
and  annotations;  the  other  also  a  Bible,  which  tells  the 
story  of  the  religious  training  of  his  father,  and  in 
which,  in  this  Scotch  father's  handwriting,  is  the  record : 
"My  dear  mother  gave  me  this  book  on  my  leaving  our 
Canada  log-house.  I  have  carried  it  in  the  pack  on  my 
back,  as  I  walked  many  miles"  etc.  Robert  Crawford 
was  a  man  of  more  than  usual  strength  of  character  and, 
both  in  the  godly  weaver's  home  in  Paisley  and  in  the 
pioneer's  home  in  Canada,  he  had  been  inured  to  toil. 
He  obtained  his  preparation  for  college  by  studying 
nights  while  working  in  the  cotton  mills  of  Hoosick 
Falls  and  Bennington  by  days  willing  to  enter  college 
at  the  age  of  twenty-eight  rather  than  to  pursue  a  short 
cut  into  the  ministry.  That  he  was  a  superior  scholar 
is  evidenced  by  the  fact  that  he  was  tutor  in  his  Alma 
Mater  in  1838-39.  He  was  a  man  of  broad  interests. 
While  he  was  an  able  preacher  and  faithful  pastor,  re- 
ceiving from  Jefferson  College  the  honorary  degree  of 
Doctor  of  Divinity,  he  was  for  one  session  a  member  of 
the  Massachusetts  Senate  and  was  president  of  the 

[534] 


Biographical  Sketches 

board  of  trustees  of  Deerfield  Academy  for  more  than 
twenty  years.  In  a  memorial  service  held  at  North  Ad- 
ams, Massachusetts,  after  his  death,  the  church  re- 
corded among  other  minutes:  "He  was  an  ever- faithful 
teacher  and  guide  to  the  seeker  after  truth,  and  his  own 
gentle  and  blameless  life  made  him  an  exemplar  of  the 
gospel  of  peace  and  righteousness  which  he  taught." 
Such  were  some  of  the  characteristics  of  Robert  Craw- 
ford as  shown  in  his  more  public  capacity.  The  home 
of  which  he  was  the  head  was  almost  ideal  in  its  habits 
and  virtues.  The  children  born  into  such  a  home  were 
reared  in  the  enjoyment  of  a  genuine  New  England 
Christian  life.  By  the  regularity  of  family  worship,  by 
precept  and  example  they  were  taught  that  religion  is  a 
life  and  not  mere  theory.  There  was  plenty  of  work  to 
train  in  habits  of  industry  and  thrift,  in  the  house,  the 
barn,  the  garden,  the  home  lot,  and  with  it  a  plenty 
of  fun  and  good  cheer.  Papers,  magazines,  books,  new 
and  old,  pictures,  and  music  made  a  home  of  culture. 
To  speak  evil  of  no  one  and  to  treat  all  guests  with 
equal  courtesy  were  some  of  the  lessons  in  conduct. 
Such  were  some  of  the  influences  of  home  life  enjoyed 
in  his  youth  by  Lyndon  Crawford,  and  it  is  not  strange 
that,  as  he  states,  from  childhood  he  felt  an  inward  call 
to  Christian  service,  an  inward  feeling  that  was  deep- 
ened by  the  fact  that  his  parents  seemed  to  love  the 
kingdom  of  God  better  than  anything  else. 

Mr.  Crawford  prepared  for  college  at  the  Deerfield 
Academy  and  High  School,  and  at  Power's  Institute, 
Bernardston,  Massachusetts.  Probably  he  did  not  hesi- 
tate about  the  choice  of  a  college.  His  father  and 
brother  had  been  graduated  at  Williams,  and  his  grand- 
father had  been  for  fifteen  years  its  President.  He  en- 
tered college  as  a  Freshman  in  1872.  In  college  he  was 
a  member  of  the  Mills  Young  Men's  Christian  Associa- 
tion; of  the  Lyceum  of  Natural  History,  of  wrhich  he 

[  535  ] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

was  for  a  time  secretary  and  again  treasurer,  and  in 
which  he  was  a  director  of  the  departments  of  botany 
and  dendrology;  of  the  Philotechnian  Society,  of  which 
he  was  for  a  time  treasurer,  and  for  a  time  vice-presi- 
dent; and,  those  being  the  days  of  boating,  he  was  a 
member  of  his  Class  Crew.  It  is  also  recorded  of  him 
that  on  one  occasion  he  won  the  hurdle  race.  At  the 
Class  Day  exercises  he  was  the  Prophet  on  Prophet. 

After  graduation  he  entered  the  Hartford  Theolog- 
ical Seminary,  from  which  he  was  graduated  in  1879. 
On  September  27  of  the  same  year  he  and  his  wife 
sailed  from  New  York,  under  appointment  of  the 
American  Board,  to  join  the  Western  Turkey  Mis- 
sion. At  the  same  time  sailed  for  Turkey  Rev.  Charles 
S,  Sanders,  a  son  of  Rev.  Marshall  Danforth  Sanders 
(Williams  1846),  missionary  to  Ceylon.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Crawford  arrived  at  Manissa,  their  station,  which  is 
about  forty  miles  north  of  Smyrna,  October  30. 

One  of  his  first  letters  to  the  Missionary  Herald  is 
dated  April  6,  1880,  from  Aidin,  about  100  miles  south- 
east from  Smyrna,  and  explains  that  he  is  staying  there 
to  learn  Greek.  "There  is  here,"  he  writes,  "a  very  fine 
Greek  school  and  in  most  all  the  cities  about  here  Greek 
is  the  household  language  of  most  of  the  Greeks,  and  is 
becoming  so  more  and  more.  I  go  to  the  school  every 
day,  and  sit  and  hear  the  recitations,  and  so  accustom 
myself  to  the  sound  of  the  language,  and  then  after 
school  I  spend  an  hour  and  a  half  receiving  instructions 
from  two  of  the  teachers,  who  take  English  in  return." 
In  the  same  year  he  reports  the  bright  opening  of  the 
schools  of  the  mission. 

One  of  the  efforts  of  the  missionaries  was  to  remove 
the  errors  of  the  Greek  Church.  In  1883  Mr.  Crawford 
writes  of  the  formation  for  this  purpose  of  a  Greek 
Evangelical  Alliance,  the  members  being  most  of  the 
Protestants  from  both  Manissa  and  Smyrna.  The  first 

[536] 


Biographical  Sketches 

step  of  the  Alliance  was  to  form  the  first  Evangelical 
church  of  Manissa,  the  church  assuming  the  charge  of 
the  preaching  in  Manissa. 

After  a  period  spent  in  America  (1883-86),  during 
which  he  was  pastor  of  the  Congregational  Church  in 
Topsfield,  Massachusetts,  he  returned  to  his  field,  mak- 
ing Broosa  his  station,  which  is  about  sixty  miles  south- 
east of  Constantinople.    Much  of  Mr.  Crawford's  time 
was  given  to  making  tours  among  neighboring  villages. 
The  Missionary  Herald  contains  an  account  of  a  tour 
made  in  November,  1889,  with  a  magic  lantern,  to  some 
villages  near  Lake  Apollonia,  lying  twenty  miles  west 
of  the  station.    It  is  a  region  of  historic  interest,  there 
being  in  one  of  the  ancient  cities  situated  on  the  shore 
of  the  lake  a  building  still  standing  which  bears  an  in- 
scription of  the  Roman  Emperor  Trajan.     Of  the  vil- 
lage and  people,  Mr.  Crawford  writes:  "Along  on  the 
line  of  hills  overlooking  the  lake  are  nine  Greek  vil- 
lages, each  having  from  sixty  to  one  hundred  houses, 
and  each  village  from  three  to  five  miles  distant  from 
the  next.    They  are  called  Tistika  Khoria'  (Taithful 
Villages').     When  these  villagers  come  to  the  market 
in  Broosa  they  are  recognized  not  only  by  their  peculiar 
dress  but  by  their  form  of  expression.     Old  forms  of 
Greek  and   'Laconic  replies'   are  always  heard  from 
them,  for  they  are  of  Spartan  origin.     Their  ancestors 
were  brought  from  old  Laconia  nearly  200  years  ago. 
We  spent  a  night  in  five  of  these  'Faithful  Villages'; 
the  Sabbath  in  Apollonia;  one  night  in  'the  City  of  the 
Sun,'  and  a  night  in  each  of  the  two  Greek  villages, 
Kouroukli  and  Amasi,  nine  and  twelve  miles  from  here, 
on  the  way  to  and  from  the  lake." 

For  several  years  past  Dr.  Crawford  has  been  lo- 
cated at  Trebizond  on  the  Black  Sea,  640  miles  east  of 
Constantinople.  It  is  a  city  of  over  50,000  inhabitants, 
made  up  of  Mohammedans,  Orthodox  Greeks,  Grego- 

[537] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

rian  Armenians,  Catholic  Armenians,  and  Armenian 
and  Greek  Protestants.  It  is  a  city  of  great  antiquity, 
being  four  years  older  than  Rome  and  settled  by  Greeks 
from  Miletus.  The  American  Board  began  its  work 
here  in  1835,  the  Rev.  T.  P.  Johnston  being  the  first 
missionary  sent  there.  The  following  is  Mr.  Johnston's 
description  of  the  scenery  as  he  first  saw  it:  "The  coun- 
try is  mountainous,  though  the  elevations  are  not  very 
great  in  the  immediate  view.  From  the  anchorage  (for 
there  is  no  harbor)  the  scene  before  you  presents  beau- 
tiful fields  laid  out  in  squares,  ascending  from  the  sea 
quite  to  the  tops  of  the  mountains.  In  one  you  see  yel- 
low wheat-stubble,  indicating  that  a  fruitful  harvest  has 
just  been  gathered,  in  another  green  corn  just  cut 
and  put  together  in  shocks.  And  in  a  third  the  rich 
brown  soil  has  recently  been  turned  up  with  the  plough, 
to  prepare  it  for  the  reception  of  the  seed  for  another 
crop.  The  higher  parts  are  occupied  with  brushwood; 
and  dispersed  through  the  valleys  which  descend  to  the 
shore  are  beautiful  groves  of  fruit-trees,  olives,  figs,  ap- 
ples, pears,  etc.  The  humble  dwellings  of  the  natives 
are  mostly  assembled  in  groups,  but  many  appear  to  be 
separated  and  surrounded  by  their  own  gardens,  and 
nearly  concealed  among  the  trees.  Withal  it  possesses 
more  of  a  rural  aspect  than  anything  I  have  seen  in 
Turkey."  That  was  written  nearly  four  score  years 
ago,  and  though  the  laborers  have  been  few,  the  faith- 
ful seed-sowing  continued  through  all  this  period  is 
beginning  to  yield  a  harvest.  In  1897  Mr.  Crawford, 
writing  of  the  extent  and  ripeness  of  the  field,  reported 
that  "within  a  circle  of  from  one  and  one-half  hours 
from  the  city  there  are  fifty  villages  of  Armenians,  and 
in  those  villages  there  are  only  five  priests  and  no 
teachers  and  no  schools.  The  people  are  ready  to  lis- 
ten to  the  gospel."  Thirteen  years  later,  in  1910,  in 
speaking  of  the  new  regime  in  Turkey  he  writes :  "In 

[  538  1 


Biographical  Sketches 

Ordou  and  in  Trebizond  Gregorians  and  Protestants 
are  coming  nearer  one  another.  This  is  a  hopeful  sign. 
It  means  that  the  Gregorians,  many  of  whom  have  been 
educated  in  our  schools,  are  recognizing  the  reasonable- 
ness of  Protestant  doctrines.  Unfortunately,  our  Prot- 
estants are  making  too  great  a  sacrifice,  and  the 
practical  union  seems  to  be  less  on  religious  and  more 
on  material  and  worldly  lines."  After  speaking  of  our 
two  strong  churches  in  Ordou — one  for  Greeks  and  one 
for  Armenians — Mr.  Crawford  continues:  "Through- 
out all  their  subsequent  triumphs  and  trials  Armenians 
and  Greeks  have  been  mutually  helpful  to  one  another, 
materially  and  spiritually,  and  both  have  grown  so  that 
to-day  there  are  in  Ordou  over  three  times  as  many 
church  members  in  each  communion  and  nearly  twice  as 
many  adherents,  not  to  mention  those  in  neighboring 
villages. 

"The  total  number  of  adherents  in  our  fields  in  1882 
was  170;  in  1909,  1304.  The  total  number  of  church 
members  in  our  field  in  1882  was  50;  in  1909,  463." 

In  all  this  growth  and  progress  which  he  has  wit- 
nessed, Mr.  Crawford  has  been  a  most  efficient  agent. 
His  knowledge  of  the  habits  and  characteristics  of  the 
people  and  his  familiarity  with  the  languages  used  in  ad- 
dressing the  different  nationalities  among  them,  make 
him  an  important  member  of  the  band  of  200  mission- 
aries now  connected  with  our  four  missions  in  that  coun- 
try. It  is  to  be  hoped  that  Mr.  Crawford  has  before 
him  yet  many  years  of  valuable  service  in  that  country 
to  the  regeneration  of  which  he  has  devoted  his  life,  and 
which  is  now  passing  through  a  great  national  crisis. 

Besides  the  visit  to  this  country  in  1883-86,  Mr. 
Crawford  was  from  1900  to  1903  pastor  in  South  wick, 
Massachusetts,  and  Portland,  Connecticut. 

Dr.  Crawford  married,  on  August  13,  1879,  Susan 
Van  Vranken,  daughter  of  Edwin  Augustus  and  Ma- 

[539] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

ria  (Stafford)  Doolittle,  granddaughter  of  Spencer  and 
Harriet  (Romeyne)  Stafford,  and  a  descendant  of 
Glaus  Romeyne,  who  came  from  Holland  in  1660.  Mrs. 
Crawford's  great-grandfather  and  great-great-grand- 
father were  Dutch  Reform  clergymen.  Mrs.  Crawford 
died  in  Topsfield,  Massachusetts,  August  12,  1884.  He 
was  next  married,  on  October  13,  1886,  to  Jeannie 
Grace,  daughter  of  James  C.  Greenough  (Williams 
1860)  and  Jennie  Ashley  (Bates)  Greenough,  of 
Westfield,  Massachusetts,  who  died  February  5,  1888. 
On  September  4,  1900,  he  married,  in  Constantinople, 
Miss  Olive  Newell  Twichell,  then  of  Constantinople, 
but  born  in  Plantsville,  Connecticut,  daughter  of 
Deacon  Edward  and  Jane  (Walkly)  Twichell  of 
Plantsville. 

Of  three  children  born  to  him,  a  daughter  and  son 
by  the  first  marriage  are  living:  Mrs.  Leslie  Stafford 
(Crawford)  Hun  (Smith  College  1904),  the  wife  of 
John  Gale  Hun,  Ph.D.  (Williams  1899),  instructor  in 
Mathematics,  Princeton  University ;  and  Douglas  Gor- 
don Crawford  (Williams  1904),  teacher  in  the  de- 
partment of  English,  Phillips  Academy,  Andover, 
Massachusetts. 

Besides  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts  received  in 
course,  Dr.  Crawford  received  from  his  Alma  Mater 
the  honorary  degree  of  Master  of  Arts  in  1886,  and  of 
Doctor  of  Divinity  in  1899.  He  is  an  Honorary  Mem- 
ber of  the  Archaeological  Society,  Anatolia,  Turkey. 

Besides  various  letters  and  papers  published  in  the 
Missionary  Herald,  he  published:  "Sunday-school  Les- 
sons" (1887-88),  and  "Tracts  in  Greek"  (1890-94). 


CLASS  OF  1877 

ROLLO  OGDEN,  son  of  Rev.  Isaac  Gray  and  Emma 
(Huntington)   Ogden,  and  grandson  of  Jonathan  and 

[  540  ] 


Biographical  Sketches 

Anastasia  Ogden,  was  born  at  Sand  Lake,  New  York, 
January  19,  1856.  The  family  is  descended  from  John 
Ogden,  who  came  to  this  country  from  England  and 
settled  on  Long  Island  in  1640.  Rev.  Isaac  Gray  Og- 
den was  graduated  at  this  college  with  Phi  Beta  Kappa 
rank  in  the  class  of  1849,  to  which  class  belonged  John 
Bascom,  Robert  Russell  Booth,  Henry  Martyn  Hoyt, 
and  Charles  Seymour  Robinson.  After  teaching  sev- 
eral years  at  Binghamton  and  Sand  Lake,  he  studied 
theology  at  Andover  and  was  ordained  by  Presbytery 
in  1858.  He  served  several  churches  in  the  State 
of  New  York  and  after  retiring  from  the  active 
work  of  the  ministry  in  1892,  he  spent  some  years  in 
Troy  and  New  York  City.  He  ended  his  long  and 
useful  life  at  Devon,  Pennsylvania,  November  28, 
1904. 

Rollo  Ogden,  the  son,  fitted  for  college  in  the  pub- 
lic schools  and  entered  the  class  of  1877,  at  the  begin- 
ning of  Freshman  year.  Three  other  members  of  this 
class,  William  Henry  Sanders,  Magness  Smith,  and 
George  Albert  Wilder,  entered  the  foreign  missionary 
service.  Mr.  Ogden  was  a  prominent  member  of  his 
class  and  engaged  in  various  student  activities,  both  in- 
tellectual and  athletic.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Phil- 
otechnian  Society,  of  which  he  was  one  of  the  presi- 
dents, for  a  time  secretary,  and  member  of  the  Li- 
brary Committee;  president  of  his  class  in  Sophomore 
year;  one  of  the  editors  of  the  Williams  Athenaeum 
and  president  of  its  Executive  Board;  recording  secre- 
tary of  Phi  Beta  Kappa;  member  of  the  Class  Foot- 
ball Team;  of  the  Boxing  Club;  the  Chandler  Rowing 
Club;  of  the  University  Baseball  Team;  captain  of  the 
Class  Nine;  and  vice-president  of  the  Baseball  Associ- 
ation. He  won  the  prize  for  pole  vaulting;  took  prizes 
in  Latin,  French,  and  Essays ;  took  one  of  the  Graves 
prizes  with  the  subject  "Culture  of  the  Senses";  was 

[541] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

one  of  the  speakers  in  the  Williams  Contest  in  Oratory 
June  30,  1877,  his  subject  being  "The  French 
Revolution";  and  was  graduated  with  Phi  Beta 
Kappa  rank,  having  at  Commencement  the  Philosophi- 
cal Oration  on  the  subject  "The  Argument  from 
Antiquity." 

After  graduation  he  spent  two  years  at  Andover 
Theological  Seminary  and  one  year  at  Union  Semi- 
nary. He  was  ordained  as  a  Presbyterian  minister  on 
May  13,  1881,  and  was  associate  pastor  of  the  First 
Church  in  Cleveland,  Ohio,  1880-81.  Under  appoint- 
ment of  the  Presbyterian  Board  of  Foreign  Missions, 
he  with  his  wife  sailed  as  a  missionary  to  the  City  of 
Mexico,  January  12,  1882,  but  at  the  end  of  about  two 
years,  on  account  of  the  illness  of  Mrs.  Ogden,  he  re- 
turned to  the  United  States.  From  1883  to  1887  he 
was  pastor  of  the  Case  Avenue  Church  in  Cleveland, 
Ohio.  From  1887  to  1903,  he  was  engaged  in  literary 
work  in  connection  with  the  Nation,  being  for  a  part 
of  that  time  on  the  staff  of  the  Evening  Post,  of  which 
he  has  been  editor  since  February  1,  1903.  As  editor 
he  writes  numerous  articles  each  year,  and  discusses  a 
wide  range  of  topics.  He  uses  vigorous  English  and 
treats  in  an  interesting  way  whatever  he  writes  about, 
whether  his  topic  is  politics,  religion,  science,  art,  liter- 
ature, or  education.  The  following  extract  from  an 
editorial  which  was  inspired  by  President  H.  A.  Gar- 
field's  Inaugural  Address  gives  some  idea  of  Dr.  Og- 
den's  style  as  a  writer  and  at  the  same  time  shows  that 
he  holds  sound  views  in  matters  pertaining  to  theories 
of  education.  "The  college,"  he  writes,  "should  have 
a  college  standard,  which  it  should  enforce  without  fear 
or  favor.  The  standard  ought  not  to  be  that  of  a  so- 
cial club,  or  an  athletic  association,  but  of  a  body  of 
scholars  pursuing  the  intellectual  life.  Something  of 
the  rigor  with  which  technical  and  professional  schools 

[542] 


Biographical  Sketches 

demand  from  all  their  students  a  certain  measure  of 
attainment,  would  be  wonderfully  tonic  in  our  colleges. 
There  would  be  no  moral  condemnation  in  excluding 
men  who  could  not  or  would  not  do  the  required  work, 
any  more  than  there  is  in  dropping  incompetent  stu- 
dents by  the  Institute  of  Technology  or  the  College  of 
Physicians  and  Surgeons.  It  would  be  simply  the  dis- 
passionate enforcement  of  a  sound  rule,  the  cool  facing 
and  application  of  the  fact :  this  is  a  society  for  intellec- 
tual training.  You  show  no  capacity  even  to  appreciate 
it,  much  less  to  share  in  it,  and  we  must  ask  you  to  be- 
take yourself  elsewhere." 

Mr.  Ogden  received  the  honorary  degree  of  L.  H.  D. 
from  this  college  in  1903.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Century  and  the  City  Clubs,  and  has  his  residence  at 
Summit,  New  Jersey. 

He  married,  on  November  30,  1881,  in  Cleveland, 
Ohio,  Susan,  daughter  of  Rev.  Dr.  Arthur  and  Harriet 
E.  (Post)  Mitchell,  granddaughter  of  Matthew  Mitch- 
ell and  descendant  of  Richard  Mitchell,  who  came  from 
England  to  Nantucket,  Massachusetts,  early  in  the 
seventeenth  century.  Dr.  Arthur  Mitchell  was  a  grad- 
uate of  this  college  in  the  class  of  1853,  and  was  a  trus- 
tee of  the  college  from  1882  to  1887.  He  was  an  eminent 
preacher  and  pastor,  and  was  for  many  years  the  effi- 
cient Secretary  of  the  Presbyterian  Board  of  Foreign 
Missions. 

Of  four  children  born  to  Mr.  Ogden,  two  daugh- 
ters, Alice  and  Winifred  Ogden,  and  a  son,  Nelson 
Ogden,  a  mechanical  engineer,  are  living  and  reside  in 
Summit. 

Besides  a  very  large  number  of  articles  that  have 
appeared  in  the  Evening  Post  and  other  periodicals, 
Dr.  Ogden  has  published  a  "Life  of  William  H.  Pres- 
cott"  (1904),  and  "The  Life  and  Letters  of  Edwin  L. 
Godkin"  (1907). 

[543] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

WILLIAM  HENRY  SANDERS,  son  'of  Rev.  Marshall 
Danforth  and  Georgianna  (Knight)  Sanders,  and 
grandson  of  Anthony  and  Celinda  (Brown)  Sanders 
and  of  Joseph  and  Ruby  (Hyde)  Knight,  was  born  in 
Tellippallai  (Tillipalli),  Jaffna,  Ceylon,  March  2, 
1856.  He  is  of  English  descent  on  his  father's  side,  and 
of  Scotch-Irish  descent  on  his  mother's  side.  Of  four 
Sanders  brothers  who  came  from  England  and  settled 
in  Portsmouth,  New  Hampshire,  one  subsequently 
went  to  Rhode  Island.  This  last  is  the  immigrant  an- 
cestor of  this  branch  of  the  family.  The  father,  Mar- 
shall Danforth  Sanders,  who  was  a  graduate  of  this 
college  in  the  class  of  1846,  and  was  a  native  of  Wil- 
liamstown,  was  for  nearly  twenty  years  a  missionary 
in  Ceylon.  He  raised  the  foreign  endowment  for 
Jaffna  College,  Ceylon,  and  was  to  be  the  first  presi- 
dent, but  died  before  the  organization  of  the  college 
could  be  perfected.  He  is  spoken  of  as  of  genial,  sym- 
pathetic nature,  a  strong,  forceful  character,  firm  in 
conviction, — a  leader  of  men.  The  mother,  who  had  a 
sweet,  loving  nature,  also  had  a  strong  character  and 
personality,  and  was  a  natural  leader.  Of  the  six  sons 
who  survived  the  father  all  became  prominent.  Rev. 
Charles  S.  Sanders  (Amherst  1875),  who  was  a  mis- 
sionary in  Turkey  for  twenty-six  years,  and  who  died  at 
Aintab  in  1906,  was  one  of  these  sons.  Besides  the  sub- 
ject of  our  sketch,  the  sons  now  living  are  Joseph 
Anthony  Sanders,  M.D.,  of  the  medical  staff  at  the  Clif- 
ton Springs  Sanitarium;  Frank  Knight  Sanders,  Ph. 
D.,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  President  of  Washburn  College; 
and  Walter  Edward  Sanders,  Ph.B.,  a  mechanical  en- 
gineer, Trenton,  New  Jersey. 

William  Henry  Sanders  spent  his  early  years  in 
Ceylon,  coming  to  this  country  in  1865.  In  the  spring 
of  1866  he  was  received  into  the  home  of  Keyes  Dan- 
forth, Esq.,  of  Williamstown,  Massachusetts,  who  had 

[544] 


Biographical  Sketches 

been  a  classmate  of  his  father  in  the  class  of  1846.  This 
continued  to  be  Mr.  Sanders'  home  until  his  starting 
for  Africa.  He  pursued  his  preparatory  studies  in  the 
High  School  and  Dr.  Griffin's  Private  School  in  Wil- 
liamstown,  and  entered  college  as  a  Freshman  in  1873. 
In  college  he  was  a  member  of  the  Philologian  Society 
and  of  the  Mills  Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  in 
connection  with  which  he  was  a  member  of  the  Com- 
mittee on  Devotional  Meetings.  He  also  took  great 
interest  in  college  athletics,  being  a  member  of  the  Col- 
lege and  Class  Nines,  of  the  Class  Football  Team,  and 
of  the  Club  Crew  in  the  Rowing  Association.  He  was 
also  a  successful  student  and  had  an  Oration  at  Com- 
mencement, the  subject  of  his  address  being  "The  Ger- 
mans in  America."  After  graduation  he  pursued  a 
course  of  study  in  theology  at  the  Hartford  Seminary, 
from  which  he  was  graduated  in  1880.  While  in  the 
seminary  he  received  an  appointment  from  the  Ameri- 
can Board  as  a  missionary  destined  to  Bihe,  West  Cen- 
tral Africa.  He  was  ordained  in  Williamstown,  and 
on  August  7,  of  the  same  year,  he  sailed  from  New 
York  for  Liverpool,  en  route  via  Lisbon  to  Africa,  in 
company  with  Rev.  W.  W.  Bagster,  who  was  the  leader 
of  the  new  mission.  Mr.  Bagster  remaining  in  England 
for  a  time  to  purchase  the  mission  outfit,  Mr.  Sanders 
proceeded  to  Portugal,  where  he  spent  five  weeks  in 
studying  the  Portuguese  language.  On  October  5,  in 
company  with  Messrs.  Bagster  and  Miller,  he  em- 
barked at  Lisbon,  and  landed  at  Benguella  November 
12.  On  account  of  the  difficulty  of  obtaining  porters, 
the  party  remained  here  about  four  months,  utilizing 
their  time  in  further  study  of  the  Portuguese,  and  in 
obtaining  words  and  phrases  of  Umbundu  from  the  na- 
tive headman  who  had  been  hired,  who  spoke  both  Por- 
tuguese and  Umbundu.  The  house  which  they  had 
taken  for  one  month  while  they  were  getting  ready  to 

[545] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

march  into  the  interior  was  thus  described  by  Mr.  San- 
ders: "The  house  has  three  rooms  and  an  entry.  One 
room  is  used  for  the  storage  of  our  heavy  boxes;  the 
next  is  the  dining-room;  the  third  room  has  two  win- 
dows without  any  glass,  and  here  we  sleep  and  write  and 
work.  The  floor  is  paved  with  stones,  but  if  any  side- 
walk in  Boston  were  as  rough  the  newspapers  would 
cry  out  at  once.  Our  household  now  consists,  besides 
ourselves,  of  two  Cabinda  servants,  two  dogs,  many 
rats,  more  mice,  most  of  all  fleas.  The  sea  breeze  com- 
mences to  blow  into  our  front  windows  certainly  by  the 
middle  of  each  forenoon,  and  it  keeps  the  house  as  cool 
and  pleasant  as  can  be  desired,  even  at  the  hottest  part 
of  the  day.  The  black  people  here  are  most  miserable 
in  appearance.  It  is  scarcely  possible  to  see  fifty  of 
them  without  finding  many  whose  toes  are  either  en- 
tirely or  partly  gone,  or  their  legs  much  swollen.  This 
is  due  to  neglect  in  extracting  the  'jiggers,'  a  kind  of  in- 
sect which  burrows  under  the  skin  of  the  feet." 

On  March  9,  1881,  in  company  with  Messrs.  Bag- 
ster  and  Miller,  Mr.  Sanders  started  inland,  reaching 
Catumbella  two  days  later  and  Bailundu  on  March  29. 
Owing  to  an  unsuccessful  attempt  to  go  on  to  Bihe,  a 
station  was  begun  at  Bailundu.  In  November  two 
more  men  with  their  wives  came,  and  the  following  year 
another  party  of  reenf  or  cements  arrived.  On  Sep- 
tember 12,  1882,  Mr.  Sanders  was  married  at  Bailundu 
to  Miss  Minnie  Mawhir.  In  this  and  the  following 
year  Mr.  Sanders,  accompanied  in  the  latter  year  by 
Mr.  Fay,  had  explored  the  country  around  Bihe  with 
the  view  of  establishing  there  a  station.  Of  the  first  of 
these  visits,  Mr.  Sanders  wrote,  under  date  of  May  6, 
1882:  "The  day  after  the  load-carriers  caught  up  with 
me  we  reached  the  village  of  Bihe's  ruler.  The  natives 
call  him  Chilemo.  He  told  me  that  his  name  is  Antonio 
Kangombe  (not  Kagnombe).  The  last  name  is  dimin- 

[  546  ] 


Biographical  Sketches 

utive  for  'ox.'  Hence  he  might  be  called  in  our  lan- 
guage Antonio  Small-ox  or  Little-ox.  The  next  morn- 
ing I  called  on  him.  He  was  clad  in  a  battered  'plug 
hat/  and  a  military  coat  given  by  De  Serpa  Purto,  I 
was  told.  It  has  never  been  cleaned  since  given,  un- 
less appearances  are  very  deceitful.  A  filthy  shirt  and 
a  large  cloth  from  his  waist  to  foot  completed  his  attire. 
His  appearance  is  that  of  an  old  toper,  and  indeed  Mrs. 
Kangombe  and  a  seculo  by  name  of  Chitandula  are  said 
to  be  the  real  rulers.  He  (the  soba)  welcomed  us,  and 
appointed  a  place  for  us  to  settle  in.  I  said  that  we 
were  not  obliged  to  settle  in  his  country,  and  unless  a 
location  which  suited  us  could  be  obtained,  we  would 
not  come  there." 

After  these  explorations,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sanders  and 
Mr.  W.  E.  Fay,  being  assigned  to  this  new  field,  started 
for  Bihe  November  19,  1883.  All  in  Bihe,  however, 
were  recalled  to  Bailundu  in  May  of  the  following  year 
because  of  an  order  from  the  chief  of  that  country  to 
leave  and  retire  to  the  coast.  This  order  was  probably 
issued  by  the  influence  of  a  trader.  On  July  4,  1884, 
Bailundu  station  was  plundered  and  the  whole  mission 
was  driven  to  the  coast.  About  the  end  of  August  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Sanders  started  inland  again,  and  after  being 
stranded  for  a  month  at  Chivula,  they  went  on  and  set- 
tled in  Bailundu  again.  In  September,  1886,  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Sanders,  accompanied  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Fay,  went 
again  to  Bihe  and  reestablished  Kamundongo  station. 
Of  a  previous  visit  there  Mr.  Sanders  had  written: 
"Going  again  to  Kamundongo,  we  found  a  fine  place 
at  which  to  build,  about  a  mile  from  our  old  site,  so  we 
decided  to  locate  there.  We  estimate  that  there  will  be 
about  3000  people  within  a  radius  of  six  miles  from  our 
village.  Allowing  two  persons  to  each  house,  we  make 
the  population  of  the  group  of  villages  at  Kamundongo 
600.  About  350  of  these  will  be  from  six  to  ten  min- 

[547] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

utes  distant  from  our  place,  thus  making  it  possible  for 
our  wives  to  go  among  them." 

About  this  time  Mr.  Sanders,  of  Bihe,  and  Mr.  Cur- 
rie,  of  Bailundu,  made  a  trip  for  the  purpose  of  ascer- 
taining the  character  and  population  of  the  region  north 
and  northeast  of  their  stations,  hoping  to  find  a  site 
favorable  for  a  new  station.  Early  in  1888,  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Sanders  went  to  Benguella  to  occupy  the  station 
there,  returning  to  Bihe  the  following  year.  In  1890 
occurred  the  war  between  the  Portuguese  and  the  Bi- 
heans,  in  which  troubles  Mr.  Sanders  was  of  much  serv- 
ice to  the  natives.  When  the  Portuguese  commander, 
Captain  (afterwards  Major)  Paira,  was  imprisoning 
or  killing  the  people  and  plundering  and  burning  the 
native  settlements,  in  order  to  compel  the  Biheans  to 
deliver  up  their  chief,  Dunduma,  whom  he  had  been 
ordered  to  capture,  Mr.  Sanders  undertook  to  induce 
the  chief  to  give  himself  up,  on  the  promise  of  lenient 
treatment.  Messrs.  Arnot  and  Fisher,  of  the  English 
Mission,  joined  in  this  attempt  later,  until  finally  the 
chief  surrendered  himself  and  was  deported,  when  the 
people  had  peace.  One  of  the  good  results  of  this  war 
was  the  firmer  establishment  of  the  mission.  The  faith 
of  the  natives  in  their  charms  and  fetiches  was  shaken, 
while  their  confidence  in  the  missionaries  was  strength- 
ened, a  greater  readiness  to  listen  to  the  presentation  of 
the  gospel  was  manifested,  and  a  very  marked  religious 
interest  prevailed.  Another  illustration  of  the  increas- 
ing influence  of  the  missionaries  occurred  in  1902,  when, 
at  the  time  of  the  native  rebellion  in  Bailundu  and  in 
the  region  toward  the  coast,  the  warnings  of  the  mis- 
sionaries, as  they  believe,  deterred  the  Biheans  from 
joining  in  revolt. 

Mr.  Sanders  was  the  "ambassador  of  peace"  not 
merely  in  political  affairs:  he  preached  the  word,  being 
instant  in  season,  out  of  season;  he  taught,  training 

[548] 


Biographical  Sketches 

young  men  to  become  evangelists;  he  itinerated,  and 
did  a  most  important  work  in  reducing  the  language  to 
a  written  form,  and  in  translating  into  it  the  Scriptures 
and  other  literature.  In  1901,  after  twenty  years  of 
service,  in  reporting  the  annual  meeting  of  the  mission, 
he  wrote:  "Every  station  showed  good  progress 
and  hence  all  were  cheerful.  At  Sakanjimba  they 
were  glad  to  have  so  many  with  whom  to  begin  a 
church;  also  because  they  had  drawn  so  many  young 
men  to  live  at  the  station.  At  Bailundu,  besides  large 
schools  and  strong  spiritual  life,  the  calls  for  out-station 
schools  is  increasing.  At  Chisamba  the  station  and  out- 
station  schools  show  a  good  enrolment.  The  fifty-four 
church  members  and  fifty-one  catechumens,  including 
those  at  Ciyuka,  make  a  very  promising  outlook  for 
that  church.  At  Kamundongo  the  five  out-station 
schools,  with  an  enrollment  of  251,  indicate  a  decided 
move  forward.  So  it  is  not  surprising  that  our  meet- 
ing was  cheerful." 

It  is  now  a  little  over  thirty  years  since  Mr,  San- 
ders, with  two  companions,  commenced  a  new  station 
in  West  Central  Africa.  For  a  time,  by  the  death  of 
one  companion  and  the  departure  of  the  other,  he  was 
left  alone.  The  natural  difficulties  he  had  to  contend 
with  were  greatly  increased  by  the  race  hatred  induced 
by  the  unscrupulous  exactions  of  Portuguese  traders. 
His  patience,  diplomacy,  and  fidelity  have  prevailed, 
and  the  mission  is  prosperous.  In  the  mission  there  are 
now  thirty-one  American  missionaries,  five  organized 
churches,  with  over  700  communicants,  182  native 
Christian  teachers,  forty-eight  schools,  with  nearly 
5000  receiving  instruction,  and  13,000  natives  now 
bearing  the  name  of  Christian. 

In  this  period  of  thirty- two  years  Mr.  Sanders  has 
visited  America  three  times,  1892-93,  1903-05,  and 
1911-12.  In  this  last  visit  he  attended  the  Commence- 

[549] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

ment  at  Williams  College  on  the  thirty-fifth  anniver- 
sary of  the  graduation  of  his  class,  and  received  from 
his  Alma  Mater  the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Divinity. 

As  has  been  stated,  Dr.  Sanders  married  on  Sep- 
tember 12,  1882,  at  Bailundu,  Miss  Minnie  Mawhir, 
who  died  August  8,  1891,  at  Kamundongo.  It  was  said 
of  her  that  she  was  of  "devoted  character  and  mission- 
ary zeal."  A  daughter  by  this  marriage  died  August 
9,  1885. 

He  next  married  on  October  17,  1893,  at  Benguella, 
Sarah,  daughter  of  Thomas  and  Esther  (Reid)  Bell, 
granddaughter  of  James  and  Rachel  (McBurney)  Bell 
and  of  John  and  Elizabeth  (Bartley)  Reid,  and  a  de- 
scendant from  ancestors  who  went  from  Scotland  to 
Ireland  at  the  time  of  the  persecution.  Miss  Bell  had 
joined  the  mission  in  1888.  By  this  wife  he  had  two 
sons,  Marshall  Thomas  Sanders  and  Keyes  Danforth 
Sanders,  who  are  still  living. 

Dr.  Sanders  translated  into  the  Umbundu  language 
the  Gospel  of  John  (printed  in  1888),  and  "Pilgrim's 
Progress"  (1904) .  In  1910  he  revised  and  enlarged  the 
Umbundu-English  Dictionary.  This  had  first  been 
prepared  in  the  beginning  of  the  mission  by  Sanders 
and  Fay,  and  was  printed  in  America  in  1884.  About 
1897,  Mr.  Fay  gathered  the  words  found  by  the  various 
missionaries  since  1884,  and  the  old  vocabulary  and  the 
added  words  were  all  tested  and  an  Umbundu-English 
Dictionary  prepared.  In  1910,  by  the  direction  of  the 
mission,  this  was  revised  and  enlarged  by  Mr.  Sanders, 
and  also  an  English-Umbundu  part,  with  Mrs.  San- 
ders' help,  was  prepared.  These  were  printed  at  Ka- 
mundongo on  the  mission  press  early  in  1911.  The 
Umbundu  language  was  wholly  unwritten  and  wholly 
unknown  when  the  first  American  missionaries  reached 
Bailundu  and  Bihe.  When  the  volume  was  published, 

[550] 


Biographical  Sketches 

the  editor  of  the  Missionary  Herald  called  it  "a  striking 
testimony  of  what  has  been  accomplished  in  this  Afri- 
can station,  begun  thirty  years  ago." 

MAGNESS  SMITH,  son  of  Foss  G.  and  Emerline 
(Grant)  Smith,  was  born  in  Kennebunk,  Maine,  Feb- 
ruary 14,  1848.  His  father  was  a  farmer  by  occupa- 
tion. The  son  fitted  for  college  in  the  New  Hampton 
Institute,  where  he  was  converted  and  united  with  the 
Baptist  church,  having  in  view  thereafter  the  Baptist 
ministry.  He  entered  Bates  College  in  1873,  but  after 
a  year  he  came  to  Williams  and  entered  the  Sophomore 
class,  his  catalogue  address  being  Lyman,  Maine.  He 
was  older  than  most  of  the  students,  and  always  ex- 
hibiting the  dignity  and  instincts  of  the  gentleman,  he 
was  enabled  to  exercise  a  strong  and  wholesome  influ- 
ence in  favor  of  upright  conduct.  He  won,  in  an 
unusual  degree,  the  confidence  and  esteem  of  fellow  stu- 
dents and  teachers.  He  maintained  a  good  rank  in 
scholarship,  and  graduated  with  the  appointment  of  a 
Dissertation.  He  was  excused  from  speaking  at  Com- 
mencement, but  his  name  appeared  in  the  list  of  speak- 
ers, his  subject  being  "The  Mental  Discipline  of  Busi- 
ness." In  college  he  was  a  member  of  the  Mills  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association,  and  of  a  Rowing  Club. 

After  graduation,  he  taught  for  a  year  in  the  acad- 
emy at  Yates,  New  York.  Having  married  in  October, 
1878,  he  with  his  wife  sailed  to  South  America,  reach- 
ing Mollendo,  Peru,  where  they  were  to  be  located,  on 
November  30.  Before  leaving  this  country  Mr.  Smith 
united  with  the  Methodist  Church  in  Williamstown,  of 
which  his  wife  was  a  member.  Their  plan  was  to  open 
a  self-supporting  English  school,  and  incidentally  to 
do  whatever  religious  work  the  laws  of  the  country 
would  allow.  It  was  missionary  work,  though  to  be 
done  independently  of  any  Board.  It  was  some  time 

[551] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

before  a  school  could  be  opened,  but  Mr.  Smith  devoted 
himself  assiduously  to  teaching,  as  he  had  opportunity, 
and  to  the  acquisition  of  the  Spanish  language.  After 
about  four  months  of  work  he  was  seized  with  typhoid 
fever,  from  which  he  died  April  19,  1879,  after  an  ill- 
ness of  nineteen  days.  The  last  words  he  uttered  be- 
fore passing  into  a  state  of  unconsciousness  were:  "Tell 
them  there  is  a  Christ." 

The  circumstances  attending  the  sickness  and  death 
of  Mr.  Smith  were  rendered  the  more  distressing  be- 
cause of  the  war  which  then  existed  between  Peru,  Chili, 
and  Bolivia  over  disputed  territory.  Two  days  be- 
fore the  death  of  Mr.  Smith,  the  town  of  Mollendo 
was  bombarded  by  the  Chilians  from  a  vessel  of 
war. 

Mrs.  Smith  still  remembers  with  gratitude  the  many 
acts  of  kindness  shown  her  by  people  of  various  forms 
of  religious  belief  in  the  time  of  her  great  bereavement 
in  that  land  of  strangers. 

Mr.  Smith  was  married  in  Williamstown,  Massa- 
chusetts, October  23,  1878,  to  Miss  Celestia  M. 
Solomon,  daughter  of  Elisha  W.  and  Sarah  Ann 
(Prentiss)  Solomon,  granddaughter  of  Asher  and  So- 
phia Prentiss  and  of  Albert  and  Azuba  Solomon.  Mrs. 
Smith  resides  in  South  Hadley,  Massachusetts,  where 
she  has  a  position  in  Mount  Holyoke  College. 

GEORGE  ALBERT  WILDER  was  born  March  14,  1855, 
at  Amanzimtoti  Mission  station,  Natal,  South  Africa. 
He  is  the  son  of  the  missionaries,  Rev.  Hyman  Augus- 
tine and  Abby  Temperance  (Linsley)  Wilder,  and  the 
grandson  of  Ora  and  Sally  (Wheelock)  Wilder,  and 
of  Horace  and  Betsey  (Sampson)  Linsley. 

The  father  was  graduated  at  this  college  in  1845, 
and  for  twenty-eight  years  was  a  most  faithful  and  ef- 
ficient missionary  in  South  Africa.  He  was  an  elo- 

[552] 


Biographical  Sketches 

quent  preacher  and  lecturer,  and  along  with  a  desire  to 
help  others,  he  had  the  ability  to  adapt  himself  to  cir- 
cumstances and  the  power  to  accomplish  great  results. 
Other  marked  characteristics  of  his  nature  were  humor, 
a  love  of  justice,  perseverance,  poetic  sense. 

The  family  of  Wilder  is  thought  to  be  descended 
from  Thomas  Wilder,  who  was  born  at  Shiplake,  Eng- 
land, and  died  there  in  1634.  Martha  Wilder,  who  left 
Shiplake  in  May,  1638,  for  the  Colonies,  was  presum- 
ably the  widow  of  Thomas,  and  the  mother  of  Thomas, 
Elizabeth,  and  Edward,  whom,  it  is  thought,  she  sent 
with  friends  to  the  Colonies,  while  she*  remained  for  a 
time  to  dispose  of  her  effects.  As  it  was  a  time  of  per- 
secution, it  is  likely  that  the  Wilders,  by  reason  of  their 
religious  character,  belonged  to  the  persecuted  class. 
The  first  Wilder  known  in  history  was  Nicholas,  a  mili- 
tary chieftain,  who  served  at  the  battle  of  Bosworth,  in 
1485,  in  the  army  of  the  Earl  of  Richmond.  As  the 
name  is  of  German  origin,  it  is  thought  that  Nicholas 
was  one  of  those  who  came  from  France  with  the  Earl 
of  Richmond  and  landed  at  Milford  Haven. 

The  writer  of  the  Introductory  Note  in  "The  Book 
of  the  Wilders,"  in  speaking  of  the  thousands  of  de- 
scendants of  Martha  Wilder,  says:  "Inheriting  the 
'bluest  blood  of  the  Puritans/  they  have  not  departed 
widely  from  their  primitive  type  of  family  and  mental 
character.  Few  among  them  have  ever  received  in- 
struction at  a  college  or  university ;  fewer  still  have  ever 
been  enrolled  as  servants ;  yet  very  many  have  been  self- 
taught  and  scholarly.  The  great  body  of  them  have 
been  influential  members  of  society,  not  often  aspiring 
to  lead,  but  not  willing  to  follow  a  leader  blindly.  .  .  . 
They  have  displayed  from  the  first  all  the  nobler  char- 
acteristics of  their  progenitors — earnestness  of  purpose, 
fidelity  in  pecuniary  affairs,  punctuality  in  the  fulfilling 
of  engagements,  strict  veneration  for  truth,  patient  in- 

[553] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

dustry,  inflexible  tenacity,  and  other  kindred  qualities. 
They  do  not  leave  unfinished  what  they  have  begun." 

Among  the  more  distinguished  ancestors  of  the  sub- 
ject of  this  sketch  were  Judge  Ashley  Sampson,  Judge 
of  the  United  States  Circuit  Court,  and  Rev.  Joel  Lins- 
ley,  D.D.,  President  of  Marietta  College,  and  some- 
time pastor  of  Park  Street  Church,  Boston. 

George  Albert  Wilder  remained  in  Zululand  until 
1868,  when  at  the  age  of  thirteen  he  came  to  this  coun- 
try with  his  parents.  He  fitted  for  college  at  Phillips 
Andover  Academy  and  entered  Williams  as  a  Fresh- 
man in  1873.  In  college  he  engaged  in  various  student 
activities,  both  intellectual  and  athletic.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  Philologian  Society,  of  which  he  was  at 
one  time  secretary  and  again  treasurer,  and  also  vice- 
president  ;  he  was  one  of  the  secretaries  and  also  one  of 
the  directors  in  the  Mills  Young  Men's  Christian  Asso- 
ciation, and  in  connection  with  it  was  one  of  the  com- 
mittee on  Sunday-school  work.  In  the  exhibition  of  the 
Moonlighters,  July  6,  1875,  he  took  the  first  Sopho- 
more prize,  his  subject  being  "The  Future  of  the  Black 
Man."  He  was  a  member  of  the  Musical  Association 
and  of  the  Glee  Club;  of  the  Chess  Club;  of  the  Foot- 
ball Team;  of  the  Class  Crew;  of  the  Rowing  Associa- 
tion ;  and  of  the  College  Nine,  of  which  he  was  pitcher. 
It  was  also  recorded  that  he  was  one  of  the  two  winners 
of  the  Siamese  Twin  Race,  October  10,  1874.  On  Class 
Day  he  was  the  Historian. 

On  graduation  he  entered  Hartford  Theological 
Seminary,  from  which  he  was  graduated  in  1880.  For 
a  time  in  this  year  he  occupied  Dr.  Hodge's  pulpit,  and 
the  better  to  fit  himself  for  his  work,  he  spent  three 
months  in  a  hospital. 

On  October  9  of  the  same  year  he  and  his  wife  sailed 
from  New  York  under  appointment  of  the  American 
Board,  to  join  the  Zulu  Mission,  arriving  at  Durban, 

[554] 


Biographical  Sketches 

Natal,  December  13.  He  was  located  at  Umtwalume, 
the  station  that  had  been  opened  thirty  years  before  by 
his  father.  He  was  not  only  the  son  of  missionary  par- 
ents and  born  on  missionary  ground,  but  he  was  com- 
ing back  to  scenes  familiar  to  him.  He  was  the  first 
son  of  the  Zulu  Mission  to  return  and  join  the  fathers 
in  the  carrying  on  of  their  great  work.  He  knew  many 
of  the  people,  and  his  knowledge  of  the  language  was 
so  good  that  he  was  able  to  preach,  to  the  delight  of  the 
natives,  the  first  Sunday  after  his  arrival. 

His  first  letter  to  the  Missionary  Herald  reports 
the  gathering  of  native  churches  held  at  his  station  Au- 
gust 3-7,  1881.  After  describing  in  a  sparkling  style 
the  busy,  bustling  time  of  the  preparations  made  in  re- 
spect to  house,  food,  and  dress,  Mr.  Wilder  writes  of  the 
services:  "Our  people  did  not  forget  to  prepare  them- 
selves also  spiritually.  The  meeting  had  been  prayed 
for  in  public  and  private  for  many  weeks.  At  the  open- 
ing session  an  address  of  welcome  was  given  by  Um- 
pahlwa,  who  as  a  little  boy,  nearly  thirty  years  ago, 
came  to  work  for  my  father.  The  singing  would  make 
you  smile,  to  say  the  least,  but  no  matter.  Good  church 
music  is  a  cultivated  flower,  not  produced  when  the 
early  missionaries  were  laboring  in  the  German  wilds. 
Thursday,  Friday,  Saturday,  and  Sunday,  at  early 
morn,  noon,  and  night,  the  crowd  gathered  in  and  about 
our  little  church,  to  hear  a  rousing  sermon,  loud  sing- 
ing, and  earnest  prayers.  Two  or  three  hundred 
heathen  congregate  at  noon  under  our  far-spreading 
wild  fig-tree,  and  are  urged  to  repent.  Saturday  noon 
some  one  hundred  children  from  the  kraals  came  at  my 
request  (I  had  first  obtained  permission  of  their  par- 
ents to  let  them  come) ,  and  one  of  our  promising  young 
men  gave  them  a  talk.  Sunday,  Ufunjwa,  an  old  play- 
mate of  mine,  was  received  back  in  the  church,  after 
passing  a  most  acceptable  examination.  He  is  a  strong 

[  555  ] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

young  man,  and  is  doing  a  good  work  among  the  kraals, 
where  he  has  a  day  school.  On  Sunday  evening  reports 
were  given  from  all  the  stations,  and  the  contributions 
for  their  Home  Mission  fund  announced.  They 
amounted  in  all  to  $440.  An  out-station,  started  by  a 
native,  heads  the  list  with  a  subscription  of  over  $65. 
Umtwalume  station,  by  no  means  the  largest  or  wealth- 
iest, and  with  all  the  expenses  of  having  guests,  stands 
third  in  the  list  of  subscriptions.  With  thanksgiving 
and  praise  the  meeting  closes,  and  Monday  all  are 
gone." 

This  extract  shows  how  others  had  labored  and  Mr. 
Wilder  had  entered  into  their  labor.  The  advantage 
which  he  had  from  an  acquaintance  with  the  language 
and  the  customs  and  character  of  the  people  showed 
itself  in  the  success  which  attended  his  labors  from  the 
first.  Letters  in  1883  report  the  addition  of  twenty- 
eight  members  to  his  church  and  in  the  following  year 
of  nine  more.  Reports  of  succeeding  years  speak  of 
"special  meetings,"  of  "much  fruit,"  and  in  1889  of  the 
receiving  to  church  fellowship  of  fifty-three  adult  mem- 
bers in  twelve  months.  Besides  his  other  labors,  Dr. 
Wilder  has  interested  himself  in  looking  for  fields 
where  new  stations  could  be  opened  with  advantage. 
By  request  of  the  chief  of  the  Polela  district  of  Natal, 
Dr.  Wilder  visited  that  district  in  1888.  The  following 
year,  in  company  with  Mr.  Bates,  he  made  an  expedi- 
tion to  the  kraal  of  Gungunyana,  in  the  Gaza  country. 
In  1891,  he  wrote  for  the  Missionary  Herald  an  article 
entitled,  "Are  there  Zulus  under  the  'Mountains  of  the 
Moon'?"  in  which  he  discusses  some  of  Stanley's  state- 
ments and  draws  the  inference  that  there  is  a  kinship 
between  the  tribes  living  on  the  highlands  near  the 
Mountains  of  the  Moon  and  the  Zulus  of  Southeastern 
Africa,  and  advises  the  establishment  of  a  mission 
among  these  northern  tribes.  In  1892-93  he  made  tours 

[656] 


Biographical  Sketches 

to  the  "Highlands,"  and  in  1906  across  the  Sabi  valley. 
In  many  of  the  places  visited  Dr.  Wilder  found  the 
chiefs  and  peoples  eager  for  the  coming  of  the  Ameri- 
can missionary.  The  expedition  made  in  1893  covered 
over  1000  miles.  The  leadership  of  this  expedition  fell 
naturally  to  Mr.  Wilder,  whose  knowledge  of  the  native 
character  helped  fit  him  for  this  position.  Besides  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Wilder  and  their  two  children,  the  party  con- 
sisted of  Dr.  Thompson  and  Mr.  Bunker,  their  wives, 
Mr.  Bates,  a  Miss  Jones,  who  was  a  colored  teacher  and 
graduate  of  Fisk  University,  and  four  or  five  native 
helpers.  They  sailed  in  a  steamer  from  Natal  up  the 
coast  600  miles  to  Port  Beira,  from  which  place  they 
proceeded  up  Busi  River  for  100  miles  in  skows  and  a 
boat  designed  by  Mr.  Wilder  and  made  in  sections  of 
corrugated  iron.  The  next  100  miles  were  made  in  ca- 
noes and  the  last  seventy-five  miles  on  foot.  On  account 
of  the  great  distance  passed  over  and  the  dangers  expe- 
rienced in  conflict  with  wild  animals,  one  writer  calls  this 
"one  of  the  most  heroic  missionary  expeditions  of  mod- 
ern times."  In  this  tour  arrangements  were  made  with 
fourteen  leading  chiefs  to  receive  our  missionaries  and 
a  site  selected  for  a  station  at  Mount  Silinda.  Letters 
in  1894  report  the  purchase  of  two  farms  containing 
24,000  acres,  and  the  organization  of  work  along  edu- 
cational, evangelistic,  and  medical  lines.  The  following 
year  a  new  station  was  started  by  Mr.  Wilder  at  Chi- 
kore,  twenty  miles  west  of  Mount  Silinda,  and  in  1897 
was  organized  the  first  church  of  Christ  in  Gazaland, 
with  sixteen  members,  and  at  Christmas  of  1900  was 
dedicated  the  new  chapel. 

The  efforts  made  to  carry  the  gospel  from  the  sta- 
tion at  Chikore  to  the  tribes  in  the  valley  of  the  Sabi 
River  were  remarkably  successful.  The  Zulu  helpers 
who  had  volunteered  for  the  tour  in  that  region 
met  with  an  unheard-of  welcome,  and  returned  re- 

[557] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

porting  fifty-six  converts  from  heathenism  in  thirty 
days. 

In  the  work  more  immediately  connected  with  his 
station,  Dr.  Wilder  has  laid  great  emphasis  upon  edu- 
cation. Accordingly,  he  has  opened  day  schools  and 
night  schools,  schools  for  training  in  Bible  study,  and 
schools  for  training  in  the  industrial  arts. 

In  order  to  gain  experience  and  also  to  extend  the 
gospel  news,  members  of  the  mission  day  schools  are 
sent  out  to  make  "week-end  tours"  among  neighboring 
tribes.  Dr.  Wilder's  theory  as  to  schools  for  training 
in  the  industrial  arts  is  presented  in  an  illuminating  ar- 
ticle printed  in  the  Missionary  Herald  for  1902,  on  "In- 
dustrial Training  in  a  Mission  to  Uncivilized  Peoples." 

He  now  has  250  pupils  in  his  school,  who  are  learn- 
ing to  read,  write,  sew,  sing,  and  many  other  things 
that  a  public  school  would  teach.  Mrs.  Wilder  teaches 
the  little  ones  sewing  and  singing,  while  Dr.  Wilder, 
in  addition  to  his  other  duties,  devotes  five  hours  a  week 
to  the  manual  training  department,  showing  the  pupils 
how  to  build  and  lay  bricks  and  tiles.  Where  less  than 
twenty  years  ago  there  was  a  rank  wilderness,  with  no 
buildings  but  the  huts  of  the  natives,  there  are  now 
hundreds  who  can  read,  twenty  European  houses,  100 
church  members  and  hundreds  of  professing  Christians. 

Dr.  Wilder's  devotion  to  his  work  and  faith  in  the 
future  of  the  people  for  whom  he  labors  enable  him  to 
discover  the  good  qualities  in  the  nature  of  that  people 
and  to  set  forth  those  qualities  in  an  attractive  light. 
As  one  reads  the  following  account  of  the  entertain- 
ment given  at  an  annual  gathering  of  the  Christians  of 
the  South  African  Mission,  one  feels  that  a  people  ca- 
pable of  such  grace  of  hospitality  is  also  capable  of  be- 
ing raised  to  the  grade  of  civilized  life:  "The  hospitality 
of  the  African  was  well  illustrated  at  this  meeting.  Of 
the  fourteen  native  Christian  families,  including  Zulu 

[558] 


Biographical  Sketches 

helpers  that  belong  to  the  station,  nine  live  from  three 
to  five  miles  away  from  the  church.  Now  neither  elec- 
tric cars  nor  bicycles  are  in  common  use  in  the  station, 
yet  the  church  decided  to  entertain  the  families  from 
the  sub-stations.  Here  is  the  result:  one  of  our  near- 
est neighbors,  Sibuyarra,  provided  for  nineteen  on  his 
premises;  another,  Hlanti,  for  twenty-three;  another, 
Sombuyana,  for  thirteen;  another  for  thirty-three;  and 
still  another  for  twenty-one.  My  boys'  house,  twenty- 
two  by  ten,  gave  a  sleeping  place  for  nineteen;  my  sta- 
ble for  eighteen ;  my  workshop  for  forty  boys ;  my  study 
for  six  girls,  and  Mrs.  Wilder's  laundry  for  six  more. 
Our  little  church  entertained  for  four  days  over  100 
visitors.  Six  new  members  joined  the  church  yester- 
day, making  the  total  fifty-one.  Would  any  church  in 
America  of  like  size  undertake  to  entertain  such  a  num- 
ber of  visitors?" 

In  an  article  on  "Striking  Contrasts  in  South  Af- 
rica," published  in  the  "Envelope  Series"  for  October, 
1911,  Secretary  Patton  has  given  eighteen  illustrations, 
one-half  of  which  have  to  do  with  the  results  of  Dr. 
Wilder's  work  or  that  of  his  father.  Of  a  part  of  this 
work,  Dr.  Patton  writes :  "Up  in  Gazaland,  where  the 
American  Board  established  its  work  eighteen  years 
ago,  there  are  social  transformations  of  a  marvellous 
kind.  Nothing  but  the  redeeming  power  of  God  can 
account  for  the  transformations  wrought  at  a  place  like 
Chikore.  Sixteen  years  ago,  when  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Wilder 
began  work,  the  people  were  as  low-down  and  gross  as 
superstition  and  sin  can  make  a  people.  The  deviltry 
of  the  witch  doctor  and  rain  maker  constituted  the  only 
religion.  Incantations,  sacrifices,  orgies  under  the 
great  Chikore  tree  on  a  hill-top  were  their  only  services. 
One  Christian  man  and  his  wife  built  a  home  among 
those  people.  They  learned  the  people's  barbarous  lan- 
guage, sought  them  out  in  their  huts,  cared  for  their 

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Williams  College  and  Missions 

sick,  taught  them  helpful  methods  of  agriculture, 
opened  a  little  school  for  the  children,  and  by  and  by 
they  organized  a  church.  What  is  the  result  of  it  all? 

"I  spent  six  days  at  Chikore  in  order  to  study  with 
some  care  the  effect  of  the  gospel  among  primitive 
heathen.  I  found  a  well-ordered  and  rapidly  growing 
Christian  community.  The  typical  heathen  kraals  were 
all  about  in  abundance,  but  in  the  midst  of  them  was  a 
cluster  of  Christian  houses — neat  little  square  houses, 
divided  into  rooms,  having  glass  windows,  doors  on 
hinges,  tables,  chairs,  beds,  fireplaces,  dishes,  and  books. 
Best  of  all,  I  found  a  loving  Christian  welcome  from 
father,  mother,  and  children.  I  found  a  schoolhouse  run- 
ning over  with  bright  boys  and  girls,  classes  going  on 
inside  and  outside  at  the  same  time.  I  found  boys  be- 
ing taught  to  use  agricultural  implements  and  carpen- 
try tools.  I  found  a  lusty  young  church,  with  its 
evangelists  and  deacons,  its  Sunday-school  and  its  sys- 
tem of  benevolence.  I  officiated  at  a  solemn  and  well- 
ordered  communion  service.  I  found  the  whole  region 
lifted  up  in  intelligence,  morality,  and  material  pros- 
pects. In  sixteen  short  years  the  progress  of  centuries 
has  been  made  in  social  evolution.  I  said,  'It  is  a  mir- 
acle/ and  I  say  so  still.  The  more  I  meditate  upon 
it  the  more  I  am  convinced  that  this  work  is  the  very 
work  of  God." 

Dr.  Wilder's  long  service  in  his  field  and  his  knowl- 
edge of  the  native  character  have  made  his  judgment 
appreciated  not  only  by  members  of  the  British 
Mission  but  by  the  civil  authorities  as  well.  But  espe- 
cially satisfying  to  a  missionary's  heart  must  be  such 
testimony  as  the  following  which  was  recently  sent  by 
one  of  his  evangelists  to  Dr.  Wilder  in  his  absence, 
"When  the  great  heathen  Chief,  Makuza,  thinks  about 
you,  tears  fill  his  eyes,"  or  when  several  natives  unite 
in  sending  him  such  a  letter  as  the  following,  express- 

[560] 


Biographical  Sketches 

ing  their  appreciation  of  his  services  in  teaching  them 
various  industries. 

Chikore  Mission  Station, 

June  29,  1906. 
Dear  Teacher,  who  is  loved — Rev.  G.  A.  Wilder: 

Our  first  remark  is  that  there  is  a  saying  of  the  An- 
cients to  the  effect  that  a  man  is  praised  after  he  is 
dead;  now  we  have  discovered  that  this  is  of  no  avail 
because  he  cannot  longer  hear.  We  have  lately  been 
hearing  about  the  affairs  in  Natal,  at  the  station  of 
your  father:  we  learn  that  your  father  would  not  tol- 
erate a  person  who  would  not  work;  and  would  even 
take  after  him  with  a  stick  if  he  hesitated  about  going 
to  work. 

Now  we  hear  that  those  people  who  were  thus 
trained  by  your  father  are  THE  PEOPLE  in  Natal  for 
they  have  their  own  works. 

Now  among  us  we  see  that  you  are  walking  in  the 
footsteps  of  your  father.  For  our  people  here  at  first 
had  no  work  of  any  kind,  but  now  you  are  teaching 
them  to  work.  In  the  first  place,  there  is  Mr.  Jiho 
Mhlanga,  a  person  who  now  greatly  helps  because  he 
was  taught  to  lay  stone  and  brick  by  you,  so  that  he 
now  builds  houses ;  then  there  is  Ndhlondhlo  M.  Hlahla, 
who  helps  us  all  greatly  by  building  chimneys  and  be- 
cause he  can  lay  stone.  The  third  is  Jonas  M.  Hlaty- 
wayo,  he  too  has  learned  a  little  how  to  erect  a  chim- 
ney; moreover  you  first  showed  him  how  to  make  a 
strong  chair.  Beside  all  this  you  induced  the  Govern- 
ment to  allow  us  the  use  of  firearms  with  which  to  pro- 
tect our  gardens  from  wild  animals.  Moreover,  all  the 
things  which  Nkomazana  is  able  to  do  he  learned  from 
you — the  breaking  in  and  training  and  driving  of  oxen, 
and  the  use  of  the  pit-saw.  We  also  remember  that 
you  told  us  in  the  year  1905  that  you  had  power  to  raise 
us  up  and  that  you  had  power  to  drag  us  down;  we 

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Williams  College  and  Missions 

now  believe  that  a  great  many  blessings  are  coming  to 
us.    We  know  what  you  said  is  the  truth. 
Remain  well,  we  are  yours, 
(Signed  by) 

Zito  H.  Sigauke 

Ndhlondhlo  M.  Hlahla 

Jonas  M.  Hlatywayo 

Jiho  Mhlanga 

Kaziboni  Nkomazana 

Sombuyana  Nkomo,  and  others. 

Besides  his  work  along  educational,  evangelistic, 
and  medical  lines,  Dr.  Wilder  has  done  much  in  liter- 
ary lines  and  much  to  help  reduce  the  dialects  of  the 
different  tribes  to  a  literary  form.  In  the  summer  of 
1907,  he  walked  over  200  miles  at  the  rate  of  thirty- 
three  miles  a  day  to  attend  as  a  member  an  important 
conference  held  at  Umtali  in  Mashonaland,  where  met 
a  committee  which  had  been  appointed  by  the  different 
missionary  bodies  of  Southern  Rhodesia  "to  decide 
upon  a  uniform  system  of  spelling  and  a  uniform  set 
of  terms  for  matters  theological  and  ecclesiastical,  to  be 
used  in  writing  the  various  dialects  spoken  by  the  dif- 
ferent tribes  of  that  country."  The  conference  was 
not  only  harmonious  in  the  recommendations  they 
adopted  in  respect  to  these  matters,  but  "also  took 
steps  looking  toward  the  preparation  of  a  comparative 
grammar  of  these  languages  or  dialects." 

In  the  summer  of  1910,  Dr.  Wilder  came  near  los- 
ing his  life  and  was  disabled  for  work  by  an  encounter 
with  a  leopard.  As  it  is  believed  the  story  of  this  ad- 
venture never  appeared  in  the  Missionary  Herald,  the 
following  account,  condensed  from  a  report  given  by 
Dr.  Wilder's  son,  may  be  given  here.  Early  one 
evening  news  came  that  a  leopard  had  been  seen  in  the 
neighborhood  and  that  it  was  killing  the  sheep  and 

[562] 


Biographical  Sketches 

goats  of  the  natives.     Dr.  Wilder,  who  was  at  the  time 
the  only  white  man  at  the  station,  at  once  organized  a 
hunting  party  to  kill  the  animal.    With  the  aid  of  two 
dogs  they  tracked  the  leopard  to  a  clump  of  trees  and 
high  grass;  the  grass  in  South  Africa  growing  very 
thickly  and  often  to  a  height  of  five  or  six  feet.     De- 
ciding to  beat  the  bush  in  front  of  him  in  hopes  that 
the  leopard  would  take  refuge  in  a  tree,  all  of  the  na- 
tives, save  two  of  the  more  faithful,  refused  to  follow 
him.    While  this  party  of  three  with  the  dogs  were  ad- 
vancing through  the  tall  grass,  the  leopard  sprang  at 
Dr.  Wilder,  throwing  him  to  the  ground,  striking  him 
with  his  forepaws  on  both  sides  of  his  head,  wounding 
him  in  his  throat,  his  right  temple,  and  left  hand.    The 
native,  who  was  a  few  feet  behind,  fearing  to  fire  lest 
he  might  hit  Dr.  Wilder,  the  beast  suddenly  bounded 
away,  closely  followed  by  the  dogs.     Though  blinded 
by  the  blood  that  flowed  from  the  wound  in  his  head, 
Dr.  Wilder  managed  to  pick  himself  up,  and  appealed 
to  some  of  the  natives  to  suck  the  poisoned  blood  from 
his  wounds.     All  refused  until  he  asked  two  of  the 
Christian  natives,  who.  in  spite  of  the  risk  to  their  own 
lives,    obeyed   the    request    of   their    missionary.     Dr. 
Wilder  then  bandaged  himself  up  with  a  large  hand- 
kerchief, and,  instead  of  going  home,  set  out  to  kill 
the  animal.     He  and  one  of  the  natives  with  their  rifles 
succeeded  in  hitting  the  leopard,  which  with  three  legs 
already  broken  by  their  bullets  still  tried  to  fight  with 
its  one  remaining  paw,  until  it  was  finally  killed.     Dr. 
Wilder  then  walked  three  miles  to  his  house,  where  he 
himself  cut  open  his  wounds  with  a  razor  and  cauter- 
ized them.     A  doctor  summoned  from  twenty  miles 
away  found  that  there  was  nothing  for  him  to  do  as 
the  patient  had  skilfully  dressed  his  own  wounds.     Dr. 
Wilder  was  then  carried  twenty  miles  to  the  doctor's 
home  on  a  stretcher  suspended  from  the  shoulders  of 

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Williams  College  and  Missions 

four  men.  Though  the  wounds  healed  rapidly,  the 
nervous  shock  of  the  encounter  was  so  great  that  Dr. 
Wilder  was  obliged  to  come  to  America  for  the  neces- 
sary rest.  Coming  to  this  country  in  September,  1910, 
he  was  not  able  to  return  to  his  field  of  labor  till  Sep- 
tember, 1913.  During  the  three  years  of  his  detention 
in  this  country,  however,  he  did  more  or  less  work  as 
he  was  able  on  a  Vocabulary  and  Grammar  of  the  Ndau 
language. 

He  married  May  27,  1880,  Alice  C.,  daughter  of 
Nicholas  and  Elizabeth  (Philbrook)  Scammon,  of 
Waltham,  Massachusetts,  and  granddaughter  of  Nich- 
olas Scammon,  whose  ancestors  came  from  England. 

Of  three  children  born  to  them  two  are  living: 
Clio  Strong,  wife  of  Francis  E.  Lyman,  who  is  with 
the  American  Telegraph  and  Telephone  Company, 
Boston;  and  Leopold  Livingstone  Wilder,  who  was 
graduated  here  in  1907,  and  is  a  journalist  in  the  office 
of  the  Springfield  Republican. 

Dr.  Wilder  received  the  honorary  degree  of  Doc- 
tor of  Divinity  from  his  Alma  Mater  in  1902. 

His  publications  are  as  follows: — Ubaqua:  a  Zulu 
monthly  (editor)  (1880-85);  "Incwadi  Yabakol- 
wayo":  Catechism  and  Bible  Text-book  in  Zulu  (com- 
piler) (1883) ;  joint  compiler  of  "Amagama  Okuhla- 
belela"—  Zulu  Hymnal  (1885) ;  " Value  of  Industrial 
Training  on  Mission  Fields" — a  reprint  from  the  Mis- 
sionary Herald  and  Hartford  Seminary  Record 
(1901);  "Bantu  Languages" — a  reprint  from  the 
Hartford  Seminary  Record  (1902)  ;  "Ndau  Religion" 
— a  study  in  Primitive  Religion — a  reprint  from  the 
Hartford  Seminary  Record  (1905-6)  ;  "Missions  in 
South  Africa,  in  Recent  Christian  Progress"  (The 
Macmillan  Company,  1909)  ;  major  contributor  to 
the  second  edition  of  "Amagama  Okuhlabelela" — Zulu 
Hymnal  (1911);  "Ndau  Hymn  Book"  (major  con- 

[564] 


Biographical  Sketches 

tributor  and  compiler)  (Mt.  Silinda  Press,  Rhodesia, 
South  Africa,  1906) ;  "Ndau  Gospels"  (Translator  of 
Mark  and  John)  (British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society, 
1910);  Song — "Alone" — (words  and  music)  (Bos- 
ton, 1911). 

CLASS  OF  1878 

ALFRED  HASTINGS  BURNELL,  the  son  of  missionary 
parents,  was  born  on  missionary  ground,  in  Manepay, 
Jaffna,  Ceylon,  August  12,  1852.  His  father  was 
Rev.  Thomas  Scott  Burnell,  son  of  Rufus  and  Nancy 
(Kingsley)  Burnell;  and  his  mother  Martha  Sawyer. 

The  family  traces  its  ancestry  back  to  the  time  of 
the  Norman  Conquest.  In  the  seizure  and  division  of 
the  Saxon  estates,  William  the  Conqueror  gave  to 
Roger  de  Burnell  the  estate  lying  in  Shropshire,  near 
Shrewsbury,  on  which  now  stand  the  elder  castle  and 
later  castle,  and  the  castle  occupied  by  the  descendants 
of  Roger.  It  is  related  that  in  1283  Robert  Burnell, 
Lord  Chancellor  of  England  and  Bishop  of  Bath  and 
Wells,  then  possessor  of  the  castle  and  estate,  was  en- 
tertaining King  Edward  I  for  a  six  weeks'  shooting, 
and  during  the  time  the  King  convened  Parliament  at 
Burnell  Castle  and  licensed  this  Chancellor  to  fortify 
and  embattle  his  castle. 

The  first  immigrant  ancestor  in  America  was 
William  Burnell,  who  came  with  the  Puritan  colonists 
from  England  about  1640,  and  became  a  landholder  in 
Boston.  His  descendants  appear  in  the  Church  Rec- 
ords in  Boston  for  over  100  years,  and  from  the  first 
till  now,  represent  a  godly  race,  scattered  over  the  land, 
faithful  in  religious  and  civic  duties.  Descendants  of 
William  Burnell  are  yet  to  be  found  in  Massachusetts, 
Connecticut,  and  many  other  States. 

Rufus  Burnell,  the  grandfather  of  Alfred  Has- 
tings Burnell,  was  prominent  in  church  and  all  good 

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Williams  College  and  Missions 

works,  and  was  a  deacon  for  many  years  in  the  church 
at  Chesterfield,  Massachusetts.  Thomas  Scott  Bur- 
nell,  the  father,  who  was  born  in  Chesterfield,  became 
a  printer  and  settled  in  Worcester,  Massachusetts ;  but 
in  1848,  he  and  his  wife,  under  the  appointment  of  the 
American  Board,  sailed  for  the  Ceylon  Mission,  where 
they  labored  until  1855,  when  they  were  transferred  to 
the  Madura  Mission,  and  soon  afterward  to  Melur, 
where  they  labored  together  for  more  than  a  quarter  of 
a  century.  Mr.  Burnell  went  out  at  first  as  a  printer 
for  the  mission  but  in  1856  was  ordained  as  a  minister. 

Alfred  Hastings  Burnell  lived  in  Jaffna  until  three 
years  of  age,  then  in  Melur,  Madura,  until  he  was 
twelve  or  thirteen,  when,  along  with  children  of  other 
missionaries,  he  was  sent  to  this  country,  under  the  care 
of  a  missionary  and  his  wife.  On  coming  to  America, 
he  lived  with  relatives  at  Westminster,  Vermont. 

He  fitted  for  college  at  Andover  and  at  Kimball 
Union  Academy,  Meriden,  New  Hampshire,  and  en- 
tered college  in  1874.  He  remained  at  Williams  until 
his  Senior  year,  but  did  not  graduate.  In  college  he 
was  a  member  of  the  Philologian  Society;  of  the  Mills 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association;  and  of  the 
Lyceum  of  Natural  History,  in  which  last  he  was  a 
director  in  the  department  of  echinoderms,  and  also 
for  a  time  held  the  offices  of  treasurer  and  correspond- 
ing secretary.  He  was  also  an  instructor  in  the  college 
gymnasium.  He  studied  theology  at  Auburn  Semi- 
nary, from  which  he  graduated  in  1881.  He  was  or- 
dained at  Westminster  West,  Vermont,  June  30,  and 
sailed  with  his  wife  from  New  York,  November  19  of 
the  same  year,  to  join  the  Madura  Mission  and  take  up 
the  work  begun  by  his  father.  The  first  year  was  spent 
at  Pasumalai  in  the  study  of  the  language,  and  then  he 
was  stationed  at  Mana-Madura,  which  is  thirty  miles 
southeast  of  Madura  and  about  twenty  miles  from 

[  5C6  ] 


Biographical  Sketches 

Melur,  where  his  parents  labored  for  many  years,  and 
where  he  spent  his  boyhood  years.  The  station  of 
Mana-Madura  then  had  an  area  of  406  square  miles, 
containing  about  575  villages  and  110,000  inhabitants. 
Here  Mr.  Burnell  labored  with  success  for  four  years. 
At  the  end  of  the  first  year  of  his  work  he  reported  the 
addition  of  a  new  congregation  of  some  twenty-five  or 
thirty  members.  At  the  close  of  the  next  year  the  con- 
gregations of  the  station  numbered  twenty  with  nine 
catechists  to  care  for  them.  The  report  of  the  same 
time  speaks  of  six  village  schools  where  the  Bible  was 
constantly  taught,  of  a  Hindu  girls'  school  with  thirty- 
two  girls,  and  of  the  completion  of  a  new  school  build- 
ing and  catechists'  house.  Here  in  the  midst  of  his 
successful  labors  and  in  the  very  prime  of  his  life  he 
was  suddenly  overcome  by  the  heat  and  was  hurried 
out  of  the  country  by  the  Mission  lest  a  more  serious 
harm  should  come.  He  arrived  with  his  wife  in  New 
York,  February  19,  1887.  He  lived  five  years  after  his 
return  to  America,  always  cherishing  the  vain  hope  that 
he  might  be  enabled  to  return  to  the  land  of  his 
adoption  and  to  the  work  he  so  greatly  loved.  But 
the  work  for  which  he  had  prepared  himself  by  so 
many  years  of  study  and  which  he  had  entered  upon 
so  auspiciously  was  closed.  He  died  of  inflammation 
of  the  brain  at  Nordhoff,  California,  November  2, 
1891. 

Mr.  Burnell  married  August  11,  1881,  Abby  Jane, 
daughter  of  Rev.  William  Ward  and  Jane  Elizabeth 
(Fay)  Snell,  of  Rushford,  Minnesota,  and  grand- 
daughter of  Thomas  and  Tirzah  (Strong)  Snell. 
Thomas  Snell  was  descended  from  John  Alden  and 
Priscilla,  and  was  uncle  to  William  Cullen  Bryant, 
whose  mother,  Sarah  Snell,  was  sister  to  Thomas  Snell. 

Mrs.  Burnell  is  a  graduate  of  Carlton  College. 
She  with  three  children — Ward  Kingsley,  Marian 

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Williams  College  and  Missions 

Snell,   and   Arnold    Emerson — resides    in    Brookline, 
Massachusetts. 

CLASS  OF  1879 

HENRY  POOR  PERKINS,  son  of  Rev.  Dr.  Ariel 
Ebenezer  Parish  and  Susan  Osborn  (Poor)  Perkins, 
was  born  in  Ware,  Massachusetts,  December  24,  1856. 
He  was  the  grandson  of  Ebenezer  and  Amelia  (Par- 
ish) Perkins,  and  of  Henry  and  Mary  (Osborn)  Poor. 
His  father,  who  was  a  minister,  was  graduated  at  Am- 
herst  College  in  1840,  and  received  the  honorary  de- 
gree of  Doctor  of  Divinity  from  Williams  College  in 
1870.  Dr.  Perkins  was  an  accomplished  scholar.  The 
Amherst  College  necrologist  wrote  of  him:  "Perhaps 
no  other  man  except  Dr.  Quint  was  a  better  authority 
or  as  often  moderator  of  Councils."  The  family  is  de- 
scended from  Deacon  Thomas  Perkins,  who  was  born 
in  Gloucestershire,  England,  in  1616,  came  to  Boston 
in  1631,  moved  to  Ipswich  in  1633,  and  thence  to  Tops- 
field.  Among  distinguished  ancestors  may  be  men- 
tioned Miles  Standish  and  Roger  Conant.  It  is  also 
probable  that  Bishop  Roger  Poor,  who  built  Salisbury 
Cathedral,  was  an  ancestor.  Allied  to  the  family  was 
also  Justin  Perkins,  the  missionary  to  Persia. 

Henry  Poor  Perkins  fitted  for  college  in  Monson 
Academy  and  Ware  High  School.  One  of  the  teach- 
ers to  whom  he  owed  most,  was  Charles  E.  Garman, 
who  subsequently  became  professor  of  philosophy  in 
Amherst  College. 

Mr.  Perkins  entered  college  as  a  Freshman  in  1875, 
and  at  once  took  rank  with  the  foremost  scholars  of  the 
class.  He  received  prizes  in  Latin,  mathematics,  and 
oratory,  being  one  of  the  speakers  at  the  Moonlight 
Exhibition,  and  also -had  an  honorable  mention  in 
Greek.  He  received  an  intercollegiate  appointment  in 
his  Senior  year,  and  was  one  of  the  Graves  prize  men, 

[  568  ] 


Biographical  Sketches 

the  subject  of  his  essay  being  "Greek  Philosophy  pre- 
paring the  way  for  Christianity.' '  He  was  a  member  of 
the  Philotechnian  Society,  in  which  he  held  for  a  time 
the  offices  of  president  and  secretary.  He  was  a  secretary 
of  the  Adelphic  Union,  and  one  of  the  directors,  a  vice- 
president,  and  a  treasurer  of  the  Mills  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association,  in  which  he  was  also  a  member  of 
the  devotional  committee.  He  was  president  of  his 
class  in  Sophomore  year,  and  was  an  editor  of  the  Wil- 
liams Athenaeum  in  both  Junior  and  Senior  years.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  German  Club  and  of  the  class 
Football  Team.  He  graduated  with  Phi  Beta  Kappa 
rank,  receiving  the  appointment  of  Salutatory  Oration. 
Charles  Albert  Perkins  of  the  same  class  was  his 
brother. 

In  the  fall  of  1879  Mr.  Perkins  entered  the  Hart- 
ford Theological  Seminary,  where  he  remained  two 
years,  and  then  entered  the  medical  department  of  the 
University  of  the  City  of  New  York.  As  he  had  al- 
ready done  work  in  anatomy  and  physiology,  he  was 
enabled  to  take,  with  profit,  the  lectures  attended  by 
the  second  and  third  year  students. 

Dr.  Perkins  was  ordained  in  the  summer  of  1882, 
and  sailed  for  China  about  the  1st  of  October  of  the 
same  year,  reaching  Tientsin  November  19.  Tientsin 
was  his  station  until  the  spring  of  1888.  As  the  mis- 
sion had  no  medical  work  at  this  place,  Dr.  Perkins 
spent  the  winter  of  1883  in  Pao-ting-fu.  Here  rare  op- 
portunities were  open  to  him  in  doing  dispensary  work 
with  Dr.  Peck,  in  Bible  teaching,  street-chapel  preach- 
ing, and  touring  with  Mr.  Pierson.  About  six  months 
after  his  return  from  Pao-ting-fu  he  went  to  the  distant 
station  of  Pang-Chuang,  in  the  Province  of  Shantung, 
where  he  spent  something  over  a  year,  employed  much 
as  in  Pao-ting-fu.  In  the  spring  of  1888  he  went  to 
Lintsing.  After  his  first  vacation,  he  went,  in  the  fall 

[569] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

of  1893,  to  Pao-ting-fu,  where  he  spent  a  year,  return- 
•ing  thence  to  Lintsing,  where  he  labored  till  the  spring 
of  1900.  This  being  the  time  of  the  Boxer  rising,  on 
June  23,  Dr.  Perkins  left,  under  military  escort  pro- 
vided by  the  Lintsing  Military  Commandant,  for  the 
capital  of  the  Shantung  province,  Chi  nan  fu  (also 
written  Tsi  nan  fu).  From  this  place  he  went,  some- 
what indirectly,  to  Kobe,  Japan,  where  he  arrived  July 
16,  and  three  days  later  was  joined  by  his  family. 
From  here  they  returned  to  the  United  States,  reaching 
San  Francisco  in  October.  On  his  return  to  China 
from  this  second  vacation  in  the  fall  of  1901,  having 
formed  a  definite  idea  of  the  needs  of  China  politically, 
he  went  to  Peking,  and  having  used  his  influence  in 
starting  the  union  of  the  various  Protestant  mission 
institutions  of  North  China,  he  got  himself  located  at 
Pao-ting-fu.  From  here  he  visited  his  old  station  of 
Lintsing,  and  then  Pang-Chuang,  which  was  the  only 
one  of  their  seven  stations  that  had  escaped  the  Boxer 
cyclone.  Here  he  found  the  only  two  books  that  had 
escaped  in  the  uprising.  One  of  these  books  happened 
to  be  a  "Short  History  of  the  United  States"  with  the 
Constitution  at  the  end.  On  the  long  journey  by  cart- 
ride  and  on  foot  to  Tientsin  he  spent  his  waking  hours 
in  meditating  upon  China's  future  in  the  light  of  the 
experience  of  modern  nations.  When  he  reached  Pao- 
ting-fu,  those  meditations  had  taken  the  form  of  a  Po- 
litical Outline,  which  outline  he  had  put  into  English 
and  Chinese. 

Both  in  religious  and  civil  matters  Dr.  Perkins  has 
taken  an  enlarged  view  of  the  relations  of  missionary 
work  in  China  to  the  regeneration  of  the  people.  He 
believes  in  the  educating  influence  of  individual  respon- 
sibility. Consequently,  he  would  aim  at  developing  a 
genuine  native  church,  and  his  theory  seems  to  be  sup- 
ported by  his  success,  while  in  civil  affairs  he  believes 

[570] 


Biographical  Sketches 

in  popular  representation  as  the  basis  of  government. 
The  events  that  occurred  in  connection  with  the  Boxer 
rising  gave  him  an  opportunity  to  present  his  views  to 
certain  officials  in  high  position.  In  view  of  the  im- 
portant events  now  taking  place  in  China  the  accom- 
panying letter,  now  printed  for  the  first  time,  embody- 
ing Dr.  Perkins'  political  ideals,  and  addressed  to  Yuan 
Shih  Kai  in  1902,  will  be  read  with  interest.  It  should 
be  added  that  the  Governor  thanked  Dr.  Perkins  for 
the  letter,  while  Minister  Conger,  to  whom  a  copy  was 
sent,  gave  it  high  commendation.  Copies  of  the  letter 
were  placed  in  the  hands  of  other  influential  men  and 
sent  into  Shansi,  Shantung,  and  Peking.  Dr.  Perkins 
was  invited  to  meet  Prince  Su  of  the  royal  family  and 
subsequently  the  criminal  judge  of  Peking,  a  man 
of  the  highest  reputation,  who  declared  himself  to  be 
on  the  side  of  radical  reform.  Somewhat  later,  to  aid 
in  the  work  of  reform,  Dr.  Perkins  translated  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States,  which  was  printed  and 
put  into  circulation. 

It  will  be  seen  that  Dr.  Perkins'  services  as  a  mis- 
sionary were  of  a  varied  sort.  Up  to  the  year  of  1900 
his  work  had  been  a  mixture  of  evangelism,  medicine, 
and  surgery.  Since  that  time  he  has  taken  great  in- 
terest in  the  question  as  to  how  China  may  be  reformed 
politically.  His  letters  published  in  the  Missionary 
Herald  bear  witness  to  his  zeal  in  recommending  the 
enlargement  of  the  missionary  work  in  China  and  to  his 
intelligent  interest  in  all  that  pertains  to  the  future  wel- 
fare of  the  people. 

Dr.  Perkins  and  family  are  at  present  (1914)  in 
this  country,  having  withdrawn  from  the  Board,  and  re- 
side at  Westboro,  Massachusetts. 

He  was  married  at  Tientsin,  North  China,  October 
29,  1885,  to  Miss  Estella  L.  Akers,  M.D.,  formerly  of 
the  American  Methodist  Mission.  She  is  daughter  of 

[571] 


Williams  College  and  Mission* 

Granville  and  Julia  (De  Shon)  Akers,  and  grand- 
daughter of  William  and  Sarah  (Jones)  Akers  and  of 
Peter  and  Hannah  (Pennell)  De  Shon. 

Of  seven  children  born  to  them,  five  are  living: — 
Anna  E.,  a  trained  nurse;  Henry  B.,  a  student  of  ag- 
riculture in  Cornell  University;  Granville  A.,  a  grad- 
uate of  Cornell  University;  Susan  P.,  a  student;  Myles 
Standish,  student  in  Worcester  High  School. 

The  following  letter,  written  by  Dr.  Perkins  to  the 
Chi-li  Governor,  to  which  reference  has  been  made  in 
this  sketch,  explains  itself,  and  may  fittingly  find  place 
here,  as  giving  one  phase  of  Dr.  Perkins*  influence  in 
the  affairs  of  China. 

Pao-Ting-Fu,  February  1,  1902. 
To  the  Governor- General  Yuan  Shih  Kai. 
Sir:— 

I  have  not  thus  far  ventured  to  call  on  you,  know- 
ing your  official  cares  to  be  great,  especially  at  this 
time  of  the  year.  But  I  do  not  like  to  defer  longer 
some  expression  of  thanks  to  you  for  your  protection 
of  so  many  foreigners  last  year.  My  own  station  was 
at  Lin  Ching  Chou,  which,  because  of  your  despatch 
and  the  telegram  of  Consul  Fowler,  I  left  under  es- 
cort on  the  23d  of  the  5th  moon.  In  Chi  Nan  Fu, 
your  guard  furnished  to  Mr.  Hamilton  and  myself 
was  a  very  strong  barrier  between  ourselves  and  no 
small  danger.  It  was  also  owing  to  your  purpose  that 
so  few  Christians  were  put  to  death  after  you  came 
into  the  Province.  Your  position  was  a  very  difficult 
one,  and  I  wish  to  assure  you  of  my  very  cordial  ap- 
preciation of  your  action  all  through  those  dark  months. 
Although  you  have  left  Shan-tung,  I  wish  to  speak 
a  few  good  words  for*Hsieh  T'ai-Chang.  He  was  a 
good  friend  to  us  all  the  winter  before,  and  kept  us  from 
attack.  After  my  departure,  he  would  have  saved  our 

[572] 


Biographical  Sketches 

houses,  if  the  Chou  had  listened  to  his  counsel.  He  has 
now  been  recalled  from  Lintsing,  but  I  should  be  glad 
if  he  can  have  some  other  appointment. 

Besides  thanking  you — Sir — for  your  protection  I 
often  ask  myself  what  I  can  do  for  you  to  show  my 
gratitude.  Should  you  ever  be  in  a  position  where  my 
services  would  be  of  any  help  to  you,  I  am  sure  I  should 
be  glad  to  do  you  such  service. 

But  my  greatest  care  is  to  do  that  which  shall  please 
Shang  Ti,  who  is  our  Father  in  Heaven.  And  how 
can  I  do  this  better  than  by  trying  to  do  a  good  act 
toward  China  and  toward  all  the  Father's  children  in 
this  great  land?  If  we  can  only  have  in  our  hearts 
something  of  his  love  for  this  people,  it  must  be  that 
we  can  do  a  good  deed  which  shall  be  for  all.  He  is 
always  seeking  to  put  his  love  into  our  hearts  and  to 
give  us  his  thoughts.  If  these  thoughts  below  are  even 
like  his,  then  there  should  be  great  good  in  them.  May 
I  ask  you  to  give  them  your  careful  attention? 

China  is  a  great  Empire.  She  has  a  wonderful  his- 
tory. God  has  taught  her  many  great  lessons  through 
her  sages  and  wise  men.  He  is  never  tired  in  his 
teaching,  but  wishes  always  to  add  to  it.  On  the  other 
hand,  when  we  compare  the  China  of  to-day  with  the 
nations  of  the  West,  we  see  that  China  is  weak.  She 
does  not  know  how  to  meet  the  new  issues  that  are 
forcing  themselves  upon  her.  It  is  also  probably  true 
that  the  Western  nations  that  are  advancing  into  China 
do  not  at  all  understand  what  they  are  doing,  as  it  will 
effect  this  country.  But  is  it  not  probable  that  lines  of 
rail  built  by  foreign  money  and  guarded  by  foreign  sol- 
diers, leading  to  mines  to  be  opened  under  foreign  man- 
agement, will  surely  result  in  the  division  of  the 
Empire,  unless  some  strong  force  prevent? 

What  then  can  be  done?  If  you  attack  these  for- 
eign people,  their  troops  will  attack  you.  If  you  de- 

[573] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

stroy  their  rail  lines,  they  will  be  rebuilt  at  your  expense. 
Besides  this  they  are  most  useful  to  the  people  for 
passage  and  for  trade,  otherwise  they  would  not  use 
them. 

China,  it  seems  to  me,  will  gain  nothing  by  con- 
tending against  the  foreigner,  wherever  he  is  doing 
work  that  tends  to  increase  her  prosperity;  rather  let 
her  assist  him.  But  at  the  same  time  she  must  seek 
with  all  her  power  to  make  herself  strong.  Let  her 
work  with  the  foreigner,  but  even  more,  plan  for  a 
strong  and  united  Empire.  Only  in  this  way  can  she 
make  his  work  prove  to  be  a  contribution  to  her  own 
greatness  and  helpful  to  her  speedy  entrance  into  the 
family  of  the  great  nations. 

How  shall  China  become  strong?  There  are  many 
ways.  Permit  me  to  outline  one  way,  which  is  not  a 
theory  but  already  practised  by  all  the  great  nations, 
except  Russia;  and  recognized  by  them  as  one  of 
the  chief  sources  of  their  strength.  I  refer  to  the 
National  Assembly,  chosen  by  the  people,  meeting 
annually,  and  deciding  upon  certain  questions  re- 
ferred to  them. 

Because  this  assembly  is  elected  by  the  people,  its 
members  know  what  the  people  wish  and  what  they  are 
willing  to  do  in  regard  to  the  great  questions  that  con- 
front the  kingdom. 

Because  of  their  power  to  decide,  the  Government 
and  especially  its  head,  the  Emperor,  is  relieved  of 
much  responsibility. 

And  because  the  people  choose  this  body,  they  feel 
that  its  decisions  are  theirs,  and  gladly  make  efforts 
and  sacrifices  for  their  land  and  country,  which  they 
would  make  grudgingly  or  not  at  all  under  authority 
from  above.  Such  a  body,  too,  coming  from  all  parts 
of  the  kingdom,  and  acting  together  for  the  common 
good,  unifies  the  country  as  nothing  else  can, 

[574] 


Biographical  Sketches 

The  powers  given  to  this  assembly  are  different 
in  various  countries  according  to  the  abilities  of  the 
representatives  to  deal  with  the  matters  committed 
to  them. 

Will  you  permit  me  to  say  to  you  that  it  seems  to 
me  an  opportune  time  to  begin  this  task  of  uniting  the 
good-will  and  energy  of  the  four  hundred  million  peo- 
ple in  this  land  in  the  great  and  worthy  cause  of  unit- 
ing the  eighteen  provinces,  and  the  building  up  of  the 
nation?  If  this  is  not  done,  I  see  no  other  outlook  than 
the  gradual  division  of  the  Empire  among  Russia, 
France,  Germany,  and  perhaps  other  countries.  If  it 
is  done,  together  with  other  measures  directed  to  the 
same  end,  there  appears  to  be  a  good  probability  that 
in  spite  of  what  is  now  being  done,  China  will,  after 
some  years,  come  out  her  own  master  and  an  equal 
among  the  other  great  nations. 

To  attain  this  end,  is  not  the  sacrifice  of  any 
desire  for  gain  or  any  personal  ambition  of  small 
account?  Jesus  said,  he  who  would  be  great  must 
serve  men.  Is  not  this  to  serve  all  the  people  of  this 
great  land? 

Only  a  few  years  ago  Japan  was  a  country  of  small 
significance.  Her  people  were  called  Wo  Ren  by  the 
Chinese.  In  the  year  1889  it  adopted  a  popular  con- 
stitution. In  1899,  by  new  treaties  with  the  other  na- 
tions, she  became  an  equal  member  in  the  family  of  the 
great  nations.  From  that  time  she  has  controlled  her 
own  tariff,  while  the  country  is  also  entirely  open  to 
foreigners.  She  is  now  seeking  for  others  to  enter  her 
country  and  become  permanent  residents. 

China  was  once  the  teacher  of  Japan,  and  gave  to 
it  both  her  written  character  and  her  Confucian  books, 
which  for  centuries  were  her  leading  light.  Now  that 
the  pupil  has  made  progress  that  is  the  admiration  of 
the  wo^ld  why  should  not  the  teacher  go  at  least  as  far 

[575] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

and  take  a  place  that  will  demand  the  respect  of  every 
one? 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  is  much 
more  representative  than  that  of  Japan,  and  is  even 
stronger,  almost  leading  the  nations  in  the  real 
strength  of  her  government. 

It  is  evident  that  in  China  the  suffrage  can  not  for 
a  long  time  be  general.  What  I  would  propose  is  that 
one  man  be  elected  by  each  hundred  families;  that  at 
a  given  date  these  men  assemble  in  the  district  cities; 
that  this  assembly  be  presided  over  by  the  District 
magistrate,  it  to  elect  from  its  own  number  represen- 
tatives to  the  Prefectural  city,  who  are  at  that  city  to 
choose  two  representatives  or  members  of  the  National 
Parliament.  These  members  should  not  be  chosen 
from  the  officials  holding  office,  but  from  those  non- 
officials  who  should  be  most  acceptable  to  the  people. 

At  a  given  date,  these  representatives  should  meet 
at  the  National  Capital,  there  to  do  the  work  which  the 
Emperor  should  indicate. 

Certain  pressing  questions  are  already  before  the 
nation,  such  as  measures  for  the  defence  of  Chinese  ter- 
ritory, and  measures  for  the  fulfilment  of  obligations 
already  entered  into.  As  to  new  obligations  the  Em- 
peror would  naturally  consult  with  his  cabinet  and  Con- 
gress. Thus  the  responsibility  for  new  measures 
would  not  fall  on  one  man  alone,  but  be  divided  among 
many  and  these  chosen  by  the  people. 

This  is  sufficient  to  give  you  an  outline  of  my 
thoughts.  Many  changes  would  doubtless  have  to  be 
made  in  details,  upon  fuller  discussion.  But  my  pres- 
ent hope  is  that  it  be  discussed,  at  first  by  your  honor- 
able selves,  and  later  by  certain  foreigners  who  are  in 
a  position  to  look  at  the  question  without  prejudice.  I 
believe  there  are  such,  and  that  they  are  more  ready  to 
assist  you  than  you  perhaps  imagine. 

[576] 


Biographical  Sketches 

CLASS  OF  1880 

WILLIS  WALDO  MEAD  was  born  in  Fayetteville, 
New  York,  March  9,  1854.  He  was  the  son  of  George 
and  Cornelia  A.  (Northrup)  Mead  and  the  grandson 
of  Michael  and  Dolly  (Thompson)  Mead,  and  of 
Kneeland  and  Hannah  (Hauser)  Northrup.  His  an- 
cestors, on  both  sides,  were  of  English  stock.  His 
father  was  a  farmer  by  occupation.  With  the  qualities 
of  honesty,  kindness,  and  patriotism  in  his  nature  were 
combined  industry  and  thoroughness. 

The  son  fitted  for  college  at  the  Buffalo  Classical 
School,  and  entered  college  in  1876. 

In  college  he  was  a  member  of  the  Philotechnian 
Society,  in  which  he  held  at  different  times  the  offices 
of  vice-president,  secretary,  and  librarian;  of  the  Mills 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  in  which  he  was 
a  director  and  a  secretary;  of  the  German  Club;  and 
of  the  Williams  Dramatic  Club.  He  also  belonged  to 
the  class  musical  organization  and  to  the  Class  Foot- 
ball Team.  He  was  a  superior  scholar,  receiving  an 
honorable  mention  in  Greek,  and  graduating  with  Phi 
Beta  Kappa  rank.  He  was  one  of  the  speakers  at  Com- 
mencement, the  subject  of  his  oration  being  "Hero 
Worship." 

After  graduation  he  spent  a  year  as  night  superin- 
tendent of  the  Continental  Telegraph  Company,  and 
then  entered  Hartford  Theological  Seminary,  where  he 
was  graduated  as  Bachelor  of  Divinity  in  1884.  He 
then  was  ordained  and  for  one  year  was  pastor  of  Con- 
gregational churches  in  Clarion  and  Eagle  Grove, 
Iowa.  In  1885-86  he  was  pastor  at  Sibley,  Iowa. 
Receiving  an  appointment  under  the  American  Board, 
he  sailed  from  Boston  for  Turkey  September  16,  1886, 
reaching  Marash,  where  he  was  to  be  stationed,  October 
30.  He  was  subsequently  stationed  at  Adana,  from 
which  place  he  wrote  to  the  Missionary  Herald  in  1889, 

[577] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

of  the  famine  and  the  poverty  of  the  people.  In  the 
following  year,  Mr.  Mead's  letters  tell  of  unusual  re- 
ligious interest,  of  large  congregations,  and  of  encour- 
aging accessions  to  the  church. 

In  April,  1893,  Mr.  Mead  was  compelled  by  ill 
health  to  return  to  the  United  States,  and  arrived  in 
Boston  June  11  of  that  year.  He  returned  to  his  post 
in  Adana  in  January,  1896.  This  was  the  year  which 
followed  the  series  of  massacres  and  outrages  which  had 
their  prelude  in  the  massacre  in  Constantinople  Sep- 
tember 30,  1895.  Mr.  Mead's  letters  give  evidence  of 
the  unrest  and  anxiety.  On  January  6  he  wrote  from 
Adana:  "The  situation  here,  as  also  in  Tarsus,  is  still 
one  of  great  uneasiness ;  no  one  dares  to  expect  that  we 
have  passed  the  crisis,  so  much  depends  on  conditions 
that  may  change  at  any  time.  Much  depends  also  on 
the  temper,  caprice,  or  firmness  of  a  single  man, — gov- 
ernor, chief  of  police,  or  prominent  civilian.  The 
Lord  seems  to  have  interposed  more  than  once.  The 
people  are  in  great  fear  and  anxiety.  Our  hearts  and 
minds  are  full  of  peace."  One  of  his  last  letters  from 
his  mission  field,  written  in  1898,  gave  an  interesting 
account  of  the  ordination  of  a  native  pastor  at 
Adana  in  presence  of  an  audience  of  nearly  3000. 
It  was  in  this  year  that,  on  account  of  Mrs.  Mead's 
health,  he  returned  again  to  the  United  States, 
and  in  1899,  finding  themselves  unable  to  rejoin 
their  mission  they  resigned  their  connection  with  the 
Board. 

Mr.  Mead  was  married  at  Constantinople,  Septem- 
ber 30,  1888,  to  Miss  Harriet  Newell  Childs  of  Boston, 
then  a  missionary  at  Marash.  Mrs.  Mead  is  daughter 
of  John  Lusk  and  Sara  V.  (Merriam)  Childs,  and 
granddaughter  of  Jonathan  and  Cynthia  (Lusk) 
Childs,  and  of  Isaac  and  Jane  (McLean)  Merriam, 
and  is  descended  from  English  and  Dutch  ancestors. 

[578] 


Biographical  Sketches 

Mr.  Mead  resides  in  Tompkinsville,  Staten  Island, 
New  York  City. 

He  has  published  "The  Apocalypse  of  Jesus 
Christ,"  New  York  (1908). 


CLASS  OF  1881 

GEORGE  ALLCHIN,  son  of  William  and  Frances 
(Hawes)  Allchin,  was  born  at  Plumstead,  Kent,  Eng- 
land, January  10,  1852.  Mr.  Allchin  left  England 
for  America  when  young  and  resided  some  years  in 
Guelph,  Ontario.  He  prepared  for  McGill  Univer- 
sity, Canada,  under  private  tutors  but  did  not  enter. 
For  two  years  he  was  secretary  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  in 
Guelph,  and  left  this  work  to  enter  upon  theological 
studies  at  Bangor  Seminary,  where  he  was  graduated 
in  1880.  He  then  entered  Williams  and  took  the 
studies  of  Senior  year  with  the  class  of  1881.  Mr.  All- 
chin  was  greatly  interested  in  music  while  in  college, 
and  was  a  member  of  the  Glee  Club  and  of  the  chapel 
choir. 

After  leaving  college  he  became  acting  pastor  of  the 
Congregational  Church  in  South  Natick,  Massachu- 
setts, where  he  remained  until  he  received  an  appoint- 
ment from  the  American  Board,  being  assigned  to  the 
Japan  Mission.  He  and  his  wife  departed  from  New 
York  August  5,  1882,  and  on  November  12  reached 
Osaka,  where  they  were  to  be  stationed.  Mr.  Allchin's 
skill  in  music  enabled  him  to  become  immediately  use- 
ful in  teaching  sacred  music,  even  while  he  was  learning 
the  language  and  before  he  could  preach  to  the  natives 
in  their  own  tongue.  He  found  fields  white  already 
with  harvest. 

Under  date  of  May  26,  1884,  he  wrote  concerning 
the  progress  of  Christianity  in  Osaka  within  the  decade 
of  its  existence :  "Last  week  this  church  held  its  tenth 

[579] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

anniversary,  and  the  progress  which  Christianity  has 
made  in  Osaka  since  the  church  was  formed  is  a  good 
illustration  of  the  growth  of  Christianity  throughout 
Japan  during  this  time.  Ten  years  ago  there  were 
seven  baptized  Christians  in  Osaka ;  now  there  are  over 
350  in  Congregational  churches  alone.  Then  they  did 
not  have  a  church  building;  now  they  own  three  com- 
fortable churches,  and  money  is  being  gathered  for  the 
fourth.  Then  there  was  no  native  pastor;  now  we  have 
three,  and  the  fourth  is  to  be  ordained  next  month. 
Two  of  these  pastors  are  graduates  of  the  school  in 
Kyoto,  where  there  was  neither  school  nor  missionary 
ten  years  ago.  Then  this  little  band  of  Christians  had 
only  the  Gospel  of  John  translated  into  their  own  lan- 
guage; now  they  have  well-bound  copies  of  the  whole 
of  the  New  Testament  and  many  books  of  the  Old. 
Then  they^  had  no  hymn-book ;  now  they  have  a  large 
selection  of  Japanese  hymns  set  to  foreign  tunes,  and 
three  of  the  churches  own  organs  that  are  played  by 
native  young  women.  Great  indeed  is  the  change  in 
so  short  a  time."  Three  years  later  than  this  Mr. 
Allchin  wrote  of  the  erection  of  a  new  church  and 
of  plans  for  the  enlargement  of  three  others  which 
were  not  large  enough  to  accommodate  all  who 
wished  to  go.  In  the  same  letter  he  writes  of 
the  girls'  school  with  its  170  scholars,  of  the  es- 
tablishment of  an  industrial  school,  which  started 
with  130  pupils,  and  of  a  young  men's  school 
under  the  care  of  the  First  Church  with  about  100 
scholars. 

One  of  the  movements  described  by  Mr.  Allchin 
for  reaching  the  masses  was  the  establishment  of  a 
"Missionary  Army,"  which  apparently  bore  some  like- 
ness to  the  Salvation  Army.  Some  of  the  duties  of  the 
"Army"  were:  the  forming  of  clubs  and  societies;  hold- 
ing rallies  at  the  churches,  and  distributing  every  week 

[580] 


Biographical  Sketches 

thousands  of  leaflets  containing  brief  statements  of  the 
main  teachings  of  Christianity. 

The  value  and  efficiency  of  Mr.  Allehin's  work  as 
a  missionary  have  been  greatly  increased  by  his  musical 
talents.  He  has  been  conspicuous  in  the  development 
of  music  in  the  Christian  schools  and  churches  of  Japan. 
He  has  not  only  made  hymns  but  has  sung  them,  and 
been  a  teacher  of  music  in  his  home,  in  the  schools,  and 
in  the  churches.  He  has  led  the  singing  at  all  the  great 
religious  conferences,  and  sung  solos  (in  Japanese) 
everywhere  in  the  land.  In  connection  with  his  preach- 
ing in  Japanese,  he  has  been  very  prominent  and  very 
successful  in  the  use  of  the  stereopticon,  giving  illus- 
trated lectures  in  halls  and  theatres,  as  well  as  in 
churches  throughout  the  country.  In  the  Missionary 
Herald  is  an  account  of  an  evangelistic  tour  which  Mr. 
Allchin  made  through  the  island  of  Kyushu,  where  he 
made  use  of  the  lantern  and  preached  thirty-one  nights 
to  audiences  numbering  in  the  aggregate  over  15,000. 

With  a  bent  for  practical  affairs,  which  is  so  valu- 
able a  quality  in  the  life  of  a  missionary,  Mr.  Allchin 
was  called  upon,  soon  after  going  to  Japan,  to  make 
plans  for  schools,  and  halls,  and  houses  for  missionaries, 
thus  becoming  a  kind  of  semi-professional  architect. 
Thus,  in  connection  with  his  work  as  a  missionary  he 
has  cultivated  three  specialties, — music,  including 
hymn-book  making;  architecture,  and  illustrated 
lectures. 

Mr.  Allchin  has  written  for  the  Missionary  Herald 
some  articles  and  many  letters  of  great  interest  con- 
cerning his  work  and  the  Japanese  people.  Especially 
notable  is  an  article  which  appeared  in  the  Herald  for 
1910,  entitled  "The  New  Evangelism  in  Osaka."  The 
article  gives  an  account  of  the  evangelistic  efforts 
which  culminated  in  the  baptism  of  355  adults  in  the  six 
Congregational  churches  of  Osaka.  Although  there 

[581] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

had  been  held  meetings  in  the  various  churches  and 
some  mass  meetings  attended  by  over  2000  people  in 
the  public  hall,  the  public  addresses  made  in  these 
places  were  not  so  potent  in  the  movement  as  the  per- 
sonal visit  in  the  homes  and  the  personal  work  done  with 
individuals.  The  work  done  in  the  Congregational 
churches  spread  to  other  denominations,  and  during  five 
nights  of  special  services  in  the  Congregational 
churches,  meetings  were  held  simultaneously  in  most 
of  the  forty-two  churches  and  chapels  in  the  city,  at- 
tended by  upwards  of  15,000  people.  The  movement 
here  described  has  not  only  quickened  the  churches,  and 
given  encouragement  to  the  Christians,  but  has  given 
to  Christianity  great  prestige  in  Japan. 

In  the  thirty  years  of  service  in  Japan,  Mr.  Allchin 
has  visited  the  United  States  three  times:  1891-92, 
1901-02,  and  1910-11.  In  1911  he  attended  the  reun- 
ion of  his  class  on  the  thirtieth  anniversary  of  their 
graduation  and  was  one  of  the  speakers  at  the  Hay- 
stack Prayer  Meeting,  in  Mission  Park. 

On  June  29,  1882,  Mr.  Allchin  was  married  to 
Nellie  M.  Stratton,  daughter  of  D.  D.  Stratton  and 
Frances  M.  (Small)  Stratton,  of  Melrose,  Massachu- 
setts, granddaughter  of  John  and  Agnes  (Sanderhoff) 
Stratton,  and  of  Dr.  Jonathan  and  Dolly  (Holt) 
Small,  and  a  descendant  of  John  Stratton,  who  came 
at  an  early  period  from  England  to  Watertown,  Mas- 
sachusetts. They  have  five  children:  Florence  S. 
Inglehart,  wife  of  Rev.  Charles  W.  Inglehart,  mission- 
ary of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  Sendai, 
Japan;  Stanley  D.  Allchin,  in  business  in  Buenos 
Ayres;  Marion  F.  Allchin,  a  teacher  under  the  Amer- 
ican Board  in  Osaka,  Japan;  Agnes  M.  and  Louise 
Bell  Allchin,  students  "at  school  in  this  country. 

Mr.  Allchin  has  written  and  published  in  pamphlet 
form  the  first  history  of  Christian  hymnology  in 

[  582  ] 


Biographical  Sketches 

Japan.  He  with  other  members  of  a  committee  has 
devoted  years  of  service  to  the  production  of  three 
Japanese  Hymn-books;  the  first  being  published  in 
1890;  the  second  in  1906;  and  the  third  in  1910.  Of 
the  second  volume  it  was  reported  that  over  100,000 
copies  had  been  sold. 

STANLEY  KETCHAM  PHRANER,  son  of  Rev.  Dr. 
Wilson  and  Bruyn  (Smith)  Phraner,  was  born  May 
26,  1860,  in  Sing  Sing,  New  York,  where  the  father, 
who  is  widely  known  as  a  preacher,  was  then  settled. 
The  son  made  a  public  profession  of  faith  at  the  age  of 
fifteen  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Sing  Sing,  of 
which  his  father  was  then  pastor.  He  received  his  pre- 
paratory education  in  the  Mount  Pleasant  Academy, 
of  the  same  place,  and  in  1877  entered  the  Freshman 
class  of  Princeton  College.  In  1878  he  went  west, 
where  he  spent  a  year,  and  then  entered  Williams  Col- 
lege, where  he  remained  from  1879  to  1881,  leaving  be- 
fore the  close  of  his  Senior  year.  In  college  he  was  a 
member  of  the  baseball  and  football  teams,  and  be- 
longed to  the  Sextette  of  '81.  He  then  went  west  again, 
where  he  engaged  in  farming,  leading  an  outdoor  life, 
and  gaining  a  knowledge  of  men  and  business  affairs 
that  proved  useful  to  him  in  subsequent  years.  In  1887 
he  went  to  New  Rochelle,  New  York,  where,  connecting 
himself  with  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  he  became 
active  in  the  Young  People's  Society  and  the  Sunday- 
school  of  the  church,  and  also  labored  with  usefulness 
among  the  soldiers  of  the  United  States  Recruiting 
Depot  on  David's  Island.  He  there  reorganized  a 
mission  which  had  been  discontinued  for  several  years, 
establishing  it  upon  a  permanent  basis.  His  efforts 
in  this  work  were  highly  appreciated  by  those  who  were 
benefited,  his  zeal  and  cheerful  Christian  faith  winning 
him  many  friends. 

[583] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

In  the  fall  of  the  same  year,  having  decided  to  fit 
himself  for  the  gospel  ministry,  he  entered  Princeton 
Theological  Seminary,  where  he  took  the  full  three 
year  course,  graduating  in  1890.  Having  consecrated 
himself,  while  in  the  seminary,  to  the  work  of  foreign 
missions,  and  having  been  assigned  by  the  Board  to  the 
Laos  field,  he  was  on  July  24  of  1890  ordained  as  an 
evangelist  at  New  Rochelle  by  the  Presbytery  of  West- 
chester.  He  had  been  licensed  by  the  same  Presbytery 
on  the  21st  of  the  preceding  January.  On  August  5 
of  the  same  year  he  sailed  with  his  wife  for  the  Laos 
country,  and  after  a  long  and  trying  journey  reached 
his  field  and  was  stationed  at  Cheung  Mai.  He  soon 
acquired  the  native  language,  and  began  the  work  of 
supplying  the  various  churches  within  the  bounds  of 
the  station,  and  of  itinerating  around  the  country,  in 
all  of  which  work  he  found  great  pleasure  and  met  with 
good  success.  He  showed  great  aptitude  for  the  va- 
ried work  of  a  missionary,  and  seemed  especially  well 
adapted  to  the  work  of  that  field.  He  was  seriously 
hindered  in  his  work,  however,  by  poor  health,  and  after 
struggling  bravely  against  disease  for  a  year,  he  was 
reluctantly  persuaded,  by  the  advice  of  the  physicians 
of  the  mission,  to  return  to  America  for  rest  and  treat- 
ment. He  started  home  on  December  21,  1894,  but 
died  on  the  way  of  hepatic  abscess,  the  15th  of  the  fol- 
lowing month,  at  Singapore,  Straits  Settlements,  in  the 
35th  year  of  his  age.  "His  brief  but  devoted  life  as  a 
missionary  is  a  rich  legacy  to  the  Church  at  large,  and 
should  inspire  some  of  her  sons  to  take  up  the  work  he 
has  been  compelled  to  lay  down." 

He  was  married  on  June  9,  1890,  at  Omaha,  Ne- 
braska, to  Miss  Elizabeth  Pennell,  who  died  at  Cheung 
Mai,  February  12,  1&91.  He  next  married  July  7, 
1892,  at  Bangkok,  Siam,  Miss  Eliza  Lansing  Wester- 
velt,  who  with  two  sons  survived  him. 

[584] 


Biographical  Sketches 

CLASS  OF  1882 

ALFRED  SNELLING,  son  of  John  and  Caroline  (Kil- 
minster)  Snelling,  was  born  in  New  York  City,  May 
15,  1855.  His  parents,  who  were  English,  died  when 
he  was  quite  young.  His  inheritance  from  them  was 
a  remarkable  faith  in  prayer  and  a  nice  sense  of  justice. 
The  children,  three  brothers  and  a  sister,  after  some 
years  went  to  Missouri  with  some  friends,  Alfred  living 
for  a  time  in  St.  Joseph,  where  he  was  converted 
through  the  preaching  of  A.  B.  Earle.  For  a  time  he 
read  law,  expecting  to  make  that  his  profession,  but 
gave  it  up  and  went  to  work  on  a  farm  in  Amity,  Mis- 
souri, where  his  brothers  were  living.  Here  he  united 
with  the  church. 

Having  a  strong  desire  to  obtain  an  education  which 
would  prepare  him  for  greater  usefulness,  he  entered 
the  academy  at  Kidder,  Missouri,  and  having  a  special 
talent  for  mathematics  and  the  languages,  he  was  able 
to  prepare  himself  for  Drury  College  in  one  year. 
Having  no  money  and  no  friends  to  aid  him  financially, 
he  walked  from  his  home,  a  distance  of  over  200  miles, 
to  Springfield,  Missouri,  the  seat  of  Drury  College. 
After  remaining  there  a  year,  he  entered  Williams  in 
1878.  Here  in  the  first  year  of  his  course  he  broke 
down  from  overwork,  and  being  obliged  to  give  up 
study,  he  returned  to  Missouri.  He  was  still  eager  to 
make  his  life  one  of  usefulness,  and  now  had  a  longing 
to  carry  the  gospel  to  the  heathen.  With  this  purpose, 
he  entered  Chicago  Theological  Seminary  in  1886, 
where  he  was  graduated  in  1888.  He  was  ordained  by 
an  ecclesiastical  council,  at  Carthage,  Missouri,  May  9, 
1888,  as  a  foreign  missionary,  having  received  an  ap- 
pointment from  the  American  Board  to  go  to  Micro- 
nesia, to  take  up  the  work  left  by  Robert  W.  Logan,  on 
the  lagoon  of  Truk.  On  June  3  of  the  same  year  he 
was  married  at  Amity,  to  Elizabeth  M.,  daughter  of 

[585] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

John  Belcher  and  Deborah  F.  (Birdsall)  Weymer, 
and  on  the  following  day  started  on  his  long  journey. 
On  arriving  at  San  Francisco,  Mrs.  Snelling  was  taken 
sick  and  by  the  advice  of  physicians  was  dissuaded 
from  continuing  the  journey  then.  Though  permis- 
sion was  given  by  the  Board  for  both  to  remain  in  this 
country  for  another  year,  it  was  decided  that  Mr.  Snell- 
ing should  go  on,  while  his  wife  would  hope  to  join 
him  by  the  next  trip  of  the  Morning  Star  the  following 
year.  In  a  letter  written  from  Honolulu  to  the  church 
at  Amity,  he  said:  "You  have  learned  before  this  that 
Mrs.  S.  is  detained  in  San  Francisco  by  illness.  It  is 
a  great  trial.  I  try  to  submit  from  the  heart.  If  it 
will  lead  us  nearer  the  Savior  we  will  be  satisfied." 
The  rest  proved  advantageous  to  Mrs.  Snelling,  who 
with  recovered  health  continued  her  journey  the  fol- 
lowing year,  having  the  company  of  Mrs.  Logan, 
who  was  returning  to  the  islands  to  take  up  her 
work. 

Mr.  Snelling  remained  a  few  days  in  Honolulu, 
where  he  was  the  guest  of  Rev.  Hiram  Bingham,  and 
where  he  met  the  widow  of  Rev.  Titus  Coan.  He 
sailed  in  the  Morning  Star,  July  14,  and  stopping  for 
a  time  at  Kusaie,  and  at  Ponape,  reached  Truk  and 
the  station  Anapauo  August  14.  Mrs.  Snelling 
reached  the  station  September  20  of  the  following 
year. 

Truk  is  a  large  lagoon  about  100  miles  by  40,  lying 
thirty-one  miles  west  of  Ponape.  It  has  ten  large  is- 
lands (some  nearly  300  feet  high),  and  many  islets. 
The  islands  are  very  fertile  and  well  supplied  with 
food.  They  form  part  of  the  Caroline  group.  The 
population  of  Truk  and  the  Mortlocks  is  15,000. 
Missionary  work  on  Ponape  and  Kusaie  (Caroline 
group)  was  begun  in  1852  by  three  American  mission- 
aries (L.  H.  Gulick,  A.  A.  Sturges,  and  B.  G.  Snow), 

[586] 


Biographical  Sketches 

with  their  wives.  In  1884,  Robert  W.  Logan,  who 
went  as  a  missionary  of  the  American  Board  to  Micro- 
nesia, and,  after  residing  a  time  on  Ponape,  went  in 
1879  to  the  Mortlock  Islands,  took  up  his  residence 
within  the  Truk  Archipelago,  where  he  accomplished  a 
wonderful  work,  and  where  he  died  in  1887.  It  was 
this  labor  into  which  Mr.  Snelling  entered,  though  in 
the  months  that  had  elapsed  since  the  death  of  Mr. 
Logan  and  the  return  of  Mrs.  Logan  to  the  States,  the 
morals  of  the  people  had  become  low,  and  the  church 
and  school  had  dwindled  away.  In  reporting  the  fruit 
of  his  second  year,  Mr.  Snelling  wrote :  "At  the  Truk 
lagoon  the  work  is  moving  on  slowly.  In  every  station 
new  churches  or  schoolhouses,  or  repairs,  have  been  un- 
dertaken and  are  being  successfully  pushed.  One 
church  of  fifty  members  organized  and  additions  to  all 
the  churches  are  reported.  These  churches  are  under 
the  care  of  native  teachers  but  under  our  direction.  I 
have  assisted  in  receiving  ninety-seven  into  church 
membership.  Of  these  some  will  go  back.  Others  are 
waiting  to  be  received.  Our  school  is  prospering." 
About  this  time  he  erected  a  church  building  which 
would  seat  500  people  and  a  new  building  for  the  girls' 
school.  In  1891  he  writes  of  the  organization  of  a 
church  of  fifteen  members  on  a  small  island,  Fana,  and 
of  his  visit  to  the  Mortlock  group  of  islands,  which  he 
was  enabled  to  accomplish  with  the  aid  of  the  mission- 
ary schooner,  Robert  W.  Logan.  In  many  places  he 
found  the  work  greatly  hindered  by  wars  among  differ- 
ent tribes,  but  he  was  often  able  to  establish  peace  be- 
tween the  warring  chiefs,  and  in  most  places  found 
reasons  for  encouragement.  From  Anapauo,  the  report 
for  the  same  year  spoke  of  the  baptism  of  nine  persons, 
of  an  average  Sabbath  attendance  of  275  at  worship 
and  of  about  185  at  Sabbath-school,  an  increase  of 
about  thirty  per  cent,  while  the  common  school  had  in- 

[587] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

creased  from  thirty-five  to  forty-eight.  His  letters 
often  speak  of  the  spirit  of  self-sacrifice  and  consecra- 
tion manifested  by  some  of  the  people. 

In  attending  to  the  great  variety  of  work  that  came 
upon  him,  Mr.  Snelling  did  not  spare  himself,  though 
at  no  time  enjoying  robust  health.  On  February  8, 
1891,  Mrs.  Snelling  wrote  of  her  husband:  "He  has 
been  doing  the  work  of  three  men,  teaching  school  five 
days  in  a  week,  six  hours  a  day,  holding  a  morning  and 
evening  meeting  every  day,  a  native  prayer  meeting 
every  Wednesday  afternoon,  and  one  in  English  Thurs- 
day afternoons,  generally  going  out  in  the  boat  on 
Saturdays  to  visit  some  of  the  substations,  preaching 
Sunday  mornings  from  nine  to  ten,  superintending  and 
teaching  in  the  Sunday-school  that  followed,  also  teach- 
ing a  class  in  the  Catechism  from  three  to  four,  and  con- 
ducting another  meeting  at  sunset.  Also  working  on 
his  translation  of  the  book  of  Leviticus  into  the  Truk 
language  every  night,  with  one  of  his  most  advanced 
training-school  scholars  to  help  him.  And  every  spare 
minute  during  the  week  he  was  at  work  on  the  girls' 
school  building,  the  boys  helping  him.  These  native 
boys  learn  very  quickly  to  handle  tools  and  I  sometimes 
think  would  excel  American  boys  if  they  had  the  same 
chance." 

Not  only  did  success  attend  his  labors  at  Anapauo, 
but  the  work  on  the  islands  to  the  west  and  north  pros- 
pered. In  1894,  on  the  Mortlocks  with  a  population 
of  less  than  5000  there  was  a  total  of  860  church  mem- 
bers and  863  in  schools. 

In  1895,  through  some  disagreement  or  misunder- 
standing, the  Prudential  Committee  deemed  it  best  for 
Mr.  Snelling  to  terminate  his  connection  with  the  Board 
and  return  to  the  United  States.  He  and  Mrs.  Snell- 
ing however  remained  at  Anapauo  as  independent  mis- 
sionaries, receiving  no  salary  and  only  such  support  as 

[588] 


Biographical  Sketches 

the  natives  could  furnish.  Among  other  agencies 
which  he  employed  in  his  independent  work  was  the 
Christian  Endeavor  Society  which  he  organized  among 
the  young  men  in  1899.  This  was  the  beginning  of  a 
great  revival  which  continued  for  several  months,  ex- 
tending to  other  stations  and  resulting  in  the  addition 
of  many  to  the  church. 

In  1891  they  removed  to  the  island  of  Tatu  or 
Farik,  about  seven  miles  from  their  former  station. 
The  island,  which  was  small  and  uninhabited,  had  been 
secured  from  the  German  Governor,  located  at  Ponape, 
with  the  intention  of  taking  the  schools  there  where  the 
pupils  would  be  free  from  the  influences  of  heathenism. 
Here  Mr.  Snelling  put  up  his  house,  erected  school 
buildings  and  planted  cocoanut  trees,  hoping  to  make 
the  island  sufficiently  productive  to  cover  the  expenses 
of  the  mission.  At  the  end  of  a  year  it  was  found  that 
the  expenses  were  a  little  less  than  $150,  only  ten  dol- 
lars of  which  came  from  outside  the  mission.  Some 
idea  of  the  inexpensiveness  of  living  there  may  be  gained 
from  the  statement  that  $150  supported  twelve  teach- 
ers and  their  families,  as  well  as  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Snelling 
and  four  families  and  eleven  boys  and  girls  with  them. 
On  August  8,  1903,  Mr.  Snelling  wrote:  "We  are  la- 
boring on,  with  an  increasing  work.  We  are  building 
three  new  houses  for  new  families,  and  more  are  anx- 
ious to  come.  This  school  work  is  our  stronghold.  It 
means  hard  blows  against  heathenism.  We  have  a 
choice  company  of  young  people  with  us,  a  tried  lot. 
We  have  great  hope  for  solid  results  when  these  go  out 
into  the  work.  A  few  weeks  ago  all  our  buildings 
were  crowded  with  people  who  had  come  for  a  season 
of  refreshing.  Our  little  church  building  was  filled 
and  a  large  number  came  after  the  last  meeting  was 
over.  The  Spirit  was  with  us  in  opening  up  the  truth 
and  dividing  it  to  each  as  they  had  need." 

[589] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

Mr.  Snelling's  last  letter  was  dated  March  3,  1905, 
ten  days  after  which  he  started  on  the  voyage  which 
proved  to  be  his  last.  On  March  13  he  left  home  on  his 
boat  Amauau  to  visit  the  islands  to  the  west,  taking 
with  him  fifteen  or  sixteen  others,  among  them  the  old 
Christian  chief  of  one  of  the  islands  and  two  teachers 
for  the  islands.  In  starting  to  return  home  ten  days 
later,  the  party,  sixteen  in  all,  among  them  six  scholars 
for  the  school  from  Uman,  encountered  a  terrible  storm 
in  which  they  became  lost.  It  was  fifty-one  days  before 
they  could  find  land  and  more  than  eight  months 
elapsed  before  two  of  the  party,  who  had  been  on 
the  boat,  appeared  at  the  mission  and  reported  the 
circumstances.  The  messenger  said  that  after  wander- 
ing fifty-one  days  and  nights  upon  the  great  deep  they 
reached  the  island  of  Aurupek,  where  they  were  treated 
by  the  natives  with  the  greatest  kindness.  A  few  days 
before  the  death  of  Mr.  Snelling  a  chief  from  Oleai,  an 
island  at  some  distance,  came  to  Aurupek,  looking  for  a 
boat,  and  reported  that  there  were  Japanese  traders  and 
a  Japanese  doctor  on  Oleai,  and  that  trading  vessels 
sometimes  stopped  there.  At  the  request  of  Mr.  Snel- 
ling he  and  his  party  were  taken  there.  He  was  re- 
ceived into  the  home  of  the  Japanese  and  was  most 
tenderly  cared  for,  but  nine  days  later,  on  July  4,  1905, 
he  died,  at  the  age  of  50.  The  island  of  Oleai,  where 
he  died  and  where  he  was  buried,  lies  500  miles  west  of 
Truk. 

The  diary  which  Mr.  Snelling  kept  during  the  days 
of  his  drifting  and  for  a  month  after  his  reaching  land, 
was  preserved  by  the  two  messengers,  and  has  been 
printed  in  full  in  the  Memorial  of  Mr.  Snelling  pub- 
lished by  his  brother  in  1909.  This  Memorial  is  the 
story  of  a  life  inspired  by  implicit  faith  in  the  commands 
and  promises  of  the  Master  and  heroically  lived  in  his 
service. 

[590] 


Biographical  Sketches 

CLASS  OF  1885 

ELMER  ERNEST  COUNT,  son  of  Thomas  Henry  and 
Polly  Ann  (Downs)  Count,  was  born  at  Ellenville, 
Ulster  County,  New  York,  December  5,  1860.  The 
name  was  originally  spelled  Gaunt.  His  grandparents 
were  Thomas  Henry  and  Rachel  (Hutchinson)  Caunt 
and  George  Purdy  and  Polly  Maria  (Beardsley) 
Downs.  The  parents  of  his  father  came  from  England 
in  1830,  and  settled  in  Ellenville,  New  York.  On  his 
mother's  side  he  traces  his  ancestry  to  Stephen  Hop- 
kins, who  came  over  in  the  Mayflower  in  1620.  His 
great-great-grandfather  Downs,  among  whose  descend- 
ants was  a  signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
was  a  Commodore  in  the  English  Navy. 

Mr.  Count's  father  was  a  glass-blower  by  occupa- 
tion. Both  his  parents  were  professing  Christians,  the 
father  very  strict  in  his  views  of  temperance  and  a  total 
abstainer  from  liquors  and  tobacco,  the  mother  a  Puri- 
tan in  morals  and  virtues. 

Mr.  Count  fitted  for  college  at  Williston  Seminary, 
and  entered  college  as  a  Freshman  in  the  year  1881. 
In  college  he  was  an  earnest,  active  Christian,  and  was 
one  of  a  band  who  were  accustomed  to  hold  meetings  on 
Sunday  afternoons  in  the  neighboring  factory  villages. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  Philologian  Society,  of  which 
he  was,  at  different  times,  president,  vice-president,  and 
treasurer.  He  was  also  a  member  of  the  Lyceum  of 
Natural  History,  of  which  he  was  for  a  time  treasurer, 
and  for  a  time  vice-president.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
Mills  Young  Men's  Christian  Association;  of  the  '85 
Dramatic  Club;  of  a  chess  club;  and  of  a  football 
team. 

The  year  after  graduation,  Mr.  Count  spent  in  busi- 
ness and  working  as  an  assistant  to  the  secretaries  of  the 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  in  New  York  City.  But  the  feeling  that 
he  had  when  he  was  converted  at  the  age  of  fourteen  or 

[591] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

fifteen,  that  he  ought  to  study  for  the  ministry,  now 
came  over  him  with  convincing  power,  and  he  entered 
Drew  Theological  Seminary  in  the  autumn  of  1886. 
Here  he  spent  three  years,  at  the  same  time  serving  for 
one  year  as  pastor  of  a  church  at  Parsippany,  and  an- 
other year  at  Chester,  New  Jersey.    On  the  completion 
of  his  course  in  theology  he  received  an  appointment 
from  the  Missionary  Society  of  the  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Church,  of  which  he  was  a  member,  and  was  sent 
to  Italy.     He  arrived  in  Italy  the  latter  part  of  June 
in  1889  and  took  up  his  residence  in  Florence.    For  two 
years  he  was  a  teacher  in  the  theological  school  of  the 
Methodist  Mission  in  that  city,  and  wras  then  sent  to 
Rome  to  establish  the  publishing  interests  of  the  Mis- 
sion.   Towards  the  end  of  his  first  year  in  his  new  posi- 
tion he  contracted  the  "Roman  fever"  and  was  sent  back 
to  Florence  in  the  spring  of  1892.    Finding  it  difficult 
to  be  rid  of  his  disease  while  remaining  in  Italy,  by  ad- 
vice of  physicians  he  asked  and  received  permission  to 
return  to  America.    The  year  1893-94  was  spent  in  re- 
cuperating at  the  home  of  his  parents  at  Ellenville, 
New  York.    Finding  himself  sufficiently  strong  to  re- 
sume work,  in  April,  1894,  he  was  appointed  to  the  pas- 
torate of  St.  John's  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  on 
West  53d  Street,  New  York  City,  which  was  to  be 
closed  as  a  separate  church  and  to  be  united  with  the 
Methodist  church  on  West  43d  Street.    A  new  church, 
which  combined  these  two,  was  built  on  West  48th 
Street.    After  completing  the  work,  and  declining  a  call 
to  another  important  church  in  New  York  City,  he  was 
sent  to  be  pastor  of  the  Methodist  Church  in  Carmel, 
New  York.    During  the  years  1897-1900  he  was  pastor 
of  a  church  at  Irvington-on-the-Hudson,  and  then  for 
three  more  years  pastor  of  a  church  in  Warwick,  New 
York.      He   was   next  called   to   Marlborough,    New 
York,  where  he  remained  till  March,  1905,  when  he  re- 

[592] 


Biographical  Sketches 

ceived  the  appointment  of  Superintendent  of  the  Mis- 
sion of  the  Methodist  Church  in  Bulgaria.  The  head- 
quarters of  the  Mission  at  that  time  were  at  Rustchuk, 
where  he  remained  until  October,  1908,  when  the  head- 
quarters were  removed  to  Sofia,  where  he  has  since  re- 
sided. On  account  of  ill  health  he  with  his  family  spent 
the  spring  and  summer  of  1908  in  this  country.  To  the 
office  of  Superintendent  of  the  Mission  there  has  been 
added  more  recently  the  office  of  Treasurer. 

Mr.  Count  received  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Di- 
vinity from  Drew  Theological  Seminary  in  1889,  and 
that  of  Master  of  Arts  in  1896  from  New  York  Univer- 
sity for  post-graduate  work  done  on  the  history  of 
philosophy  and  comparative  religions.  He  was  con- 
tinuing post-graduate  work  in  New  York  University 
in  the  course  leading  to  the  degree  of  Ph.  D.,  his  thesis 
being  the  "Philosophy  of  Giordano  Bruno,"  when  his 
course  was  interrupted  by  illness.  The  Missouri  Wes- 
leyan  College  honored  him  with  the  degree  of  Doctor 
of  Divinity  in  1909. 

Dr.  Count  was  married  in  Carmel,  New  York,  June 
24,  1897,  to  Miss  Viette  E.,  daughter  of  Myron  and 
Maria  (Babcock)  Thompson,  and  granddaughter  of 
John  and  Sarah  (Westfall)  Thompson  and  of  Charles 
and  Lavinia  (Goodrich)  Babcock,  and  a  descendant  of 
Duncan  Thompson,  who  came  from  Scotland  to 
America. 

Their  children  are  two  sons  and  two  daughters,  all 
now  in  Sofia,  Bulgaria:  Earl  Wendel;  Elmer  Ernest, 
Jr.;  Clara  Beardsley;  Viette  Georgia. 

Dr.  Count  is  the  author  of  numerous  articles  on  sub- 
jects connected  with  his  work. 

DAVID  SCUDDEB  HERRICK,  son  of  Rev.  James  and 
Elizabeth  Hopkins  (Crosby)  Herrick,  grandson  of 
Nathaniel  and  Lydia  (Eastman)  Herrick,  and  of 

[593] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

Thomas  and  Catherine  (Burt)  Crosby,  was  born  at 
Tirumangalam,  South  India,  March  29,  1863.  The 
family  traces  its  descent  from  Henry  Herrick,  who 
came  from  England  to  Salem,  or  Beverly,  Massa- 
chusetts, in  1629.  Among  the  more  distinguished 
ancestors  were  the  English  poet,  Robert  Herrick, 
William  Brewster,  of  Scrooby  Manor,  England,  and 
Stephen  Hopkins,  the  last  two  being  of  Mayflower 
fame. 

The  father,  James  Herrick,  graduated  at  this  col- 
lege in  1841,  and  with  the  exception  of  three  years  spent 
in  this  country,  he  was  from  1846  to  1883  the  devoted 
missionary  of  the  American  Board  in  Madura,  India. 
His  marked  characteristics  were  hopefulness,  piety,  and 
diligence.  James  Frederick  Herrick,  a  brother  of  the 
subject  of  this  sketch,  graduated  at  this  college  in  1875. 
A  son  of  James  Frederick,  bearing  his  name,  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  class  of  1914. 

David  Scudder  Herrick  fitted  for  college  at  the 
Newton  High  School  and  entered  the  Freshman  class 
at  Williams  in  1881.  The  class  of  1885,  the  first  to 
enter  under  the  administration  of  President  Franklin 
Carter,  was  considerably  larger  than  preceding  classes, 
and  had  many  members  of  superior  ability.  Among 
Mr.  Herrick's  classmates  were  George  Stuart  Duncan, 
Harry  A.,  and  James  R.  Garfield,  William  M.  Gros- 
venor,  Stephen  B.  L.  Penrose,  Henry  B.  Ward,  and 
Bentley  Wirt  Warren.  In  college  Mr.  Herrick  was  a 
member  of  the  Philologian  Society,  and  of  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association.  He  was  interested  in  col- 
lege athletics,  being  a  member  of  the  Williams  Athletic 
Association,  of  the  Class  Football  Team,  and  of  the 
"Hare  and  Hounds,"  and  winning  the  half-mile  and 
mile  runs  at  the  Athletic  Meet  in  October,  1884.  He 
was  an  earnest  Christian  man  and  a  superior  scholar, 
receiving  a  Rice  Book  prize  at  the  end  of  Sopho- 

[594] 


Biographical  Sketches 

more  year,  and  the  first  prize  in  French  at  the  end  of 
Junior  year,  and  graduating  with  Phi  Beta  Kappa 
rank. 

In  the  fall  of  1885,  Mr.  Scudder  went  to  India 
under  engagement  with  the  American  Board,  and 
taught  in  Pasumalai  College,  the  institution  connected 
with  the  Madura  Mission.  For  a  part  of  the  time,  dur- 
ing the  absence  of  Dr.  Washburn  in  America,  he  acted 
as  principal  of  the  college.  In  a  letter  written  about 
this  time  to  the  class  secretary,  he  gives  the  following 
description  of  his  surroundings.  "Perhaps,"  says  he, 
"y°u'ol  like  to  know  what  sort  of  a  country  this  is. 
Well,  just  here  we  are  in  a  large  plain,  stretching  away 
fifty  miles  or  more  to  the  sea  on  the  east,  farther  yet 
on  the  south  and  northeast,  but  bounded  on  the  west 
by  a  high  range  of  mountains,  the  highest  of  which  are 
about  fifty  miles  from  here ;  lower  ones  fill  up  the  inter- 
vening space  so  that  only  twelve  miles  or  so  intervene 
between  us  and  some  very  respectable  hills.  Detached 
hills  and  rocks  there  are  in  abundance,  two  of  which, 
about  300  or  400  feet  high,  are  behind  our  house.  About 
a  mile  and  a  half  off  is  a  solid  granite  rock,  400  feet  or 
more  in  height  and  two  or  three  miles  in  circumference. 
There  is  only  one  way  to  go  up  and  that  is  mostly  by 
steps  laid  or  cut  in  the  rock.  On  the  very  tip-top  is  a 
Mohammedan  mosque,  where  Alexander  the  Great  is 
said  to  have  been  buried.  Off  in  front  of  the  house  the 
rice  fields  stretch  for  miles.  Everything  is  very  beauti- 
ful now,  as  we  are  in  the  midst  of  the  rainy  season.  If 
you  were  to  go  up  on  the  hill  back  of  the  house  you 
would  get  a  beautiful  view,  distant  mountains,  green 
rice  fields,  groves  of  trees  scattered  here  and  there,  wav- 
ing palms,  and  everywhere  dotted  about  a  multitude  of 
tanks  now  full  or  half  full  of  water,  looking  like  minia- 
ture lakes.  We  live  in  a  house  made  high  and  airy  of 
solid  brick,  with  large  rooms  and  a  wide  veranda  on 

[  595  ] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

three  sides  and  a  part  of  a  fourth;  all  this  is  necessary 
for  coolness." 

In  the  summer  of  1890,  Mr.  Herrick  returned  to 
America,  and  in  the  autumn  of  the  same  year  entered 
Union  Theological  Seminary,  at  which  he  graduated  in 

1893.  In  the  last  year  of  his  seminary  course  he  was 
"approved  to  preach"  by  the  Brooklyn  Association.  On 
graduation,  in  recognition  of  his  superior  scholarship, 
he  was  appointed  alternate  for  the  Fellowship,  the  ap- 
pointee being  Rev.  J.  W.  Platner.    Private  means  be- 
ing provided  which  enabled  him  to  study  a  year  abroad, 
Mr.  Herrick  matriculated  at  the  University  of  Oxford, 
England,  where  he  remained  in  residence  four  terms, 
attending  various  lectures,  among  which  especially  were 
those  of  Principal  Fairbairn  of  Mansfield  College.    At 
the  same  time  he  studied  privately  with  the   Tamil 
scholar,  Rev.  G.  U.  Pope,  D.D.,  under  whose  super- 
vision he  translated  the   "First  Catechism  of   Tamil 
Grammar,"  which  was  brought  out  by  the  Clarendon 
Press.     Returning  to  this  country  in  the  summer  of 

1894,  he  was  ordained  September  25  of  the  same  year, 
in  the  Eliot  Congregational  Church  in  Newton,  Massa- 
chusetts, and  sailed  with  his  wife  from  Vancouver  for 
India  by  the  way  of  Japan,  on  the  15th  of  the  following 
month,  arriving  at  Madura  January  8,  1895.    Here  he 
was  appointed  to  a  position  in  the  Mission  High  School 
and  while  teaching  pursued  also  the  study  of  Tamil. 
Having  passed  the  required  examination  in  this  lan- 
guage during  the  year,  he  was  appointed  in  January, 
1896,  to  the  full  charge  of  the  Madura  High  School. 
In  May  of  that  year,  owing  to  the  illness  of  one  of  the 
missionaries,  he  was  given  charge  of  the  station  at  Bat- 
talagundu,  taking  up  his  residence  there  while  still  re- 
taining charge  of  the  -Madura  High  School,  in  which 
he  taught  regularly  for  a  year.    After  about  two  years 
he  was  able  to  turn  over  the  charge  of  the  high  school 

[  596  ] 


Biographical  Sketches 

to  another  and  to  devote  himself  to  general  missionary 
work  in  the  Battalagundu  station.  In  1902-03,  during 
the  absence  of  Rev.  J.  E.  Tracy  (Williams  1874),  in 
America,  Mr.  Herrick  was  given  charge  of  the  station 
at  Periakulam,  in  addition  to  his  other  work.  A  part 
of  the  year  1904-05  was  spent  in  America,  he  returning 
to  his  field  in  the  fall  of  the  latter  year. 

Mr.  Herrick's  work  in  Madura  was  the  charge  of  the 
station  together  with  teaching  and  other  work  in  the 
American  College,  the  successor  of  Pasumalai  Col- 
lege. Besides  these  duties  he  had  part  in  the 
movement  looking  towards  an  union  among  the  dif- 
ferent missions  and  denominations  on  the  mission  field, 
and  was  made  secretary  of  the  South  India  United 
Church  at  its  first  General  Assembly  in  July,  1908. 
Owing  to  failure  of  health,  he  spent  the  fall  and  winter 
of  1909-10  in  Southern  California,  returning  to  Ma- 
dura in  the  fall  of  the  latter  year.  He  was  then 
appointed  to  work  in  the  North  Circle  of  the  mis- 
sion, covering  an  area  which  had  a  population  of 
555,000  souls;  and  in  July  was  entrusted  with  the 
full  charge  of  this  work  as  Chairman  of  the  North 
Circle  Committee.  Mr.  Herrick's  most  recent  appoint- 
ment is  to  a  professorship  in  the  United  Theologi- 
cal College  at  Bangalore,  the  American  Board 
having  consented  to  undertake  the  support  of  the 
chair. 

He  received  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts  from  this 
College  in  1894. 

Mr.  Herrick  was  married  in  Winchester,  Massa- 
chusetts, September  26,  1894,  to  Dency,  daughter  of 
James  Pierce  and  Eliza  (Marvin)  Root,  granddaugh- 
ter of  William  Shepard  and  Maria  (Talbot)  Root  and 
of  Thomas  and  Dency  (Tiffany)  Marvin,  and  a  de- 
scendant from  John  Roote,  who  came  from  England  to 
Farmington,  Connecticut,  about  1640.  They  have  one 

[597] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

child,  Prudence  Tiffany  Herrick,  a  pupil  in  the  New- 
ton High  School. 

Besides  the  "Translation  of  the  First  Catechism  of 
Tamil  Grammar,  by  G.  U.  Pope,  D.D.,"  Mr.  Herrick 
has  published  various  short  articles  in  the  Missionary 
Herald,  among  them  being  "A  Translation  of  Hymns 
from  the  Tamil,"  "A  Village  Teacher  in  the  Madura 
Mission,"  and  "A  Sairite  Catechism." 

ALFRED  ERNEST  STREET,  son  of  David  and  Eunice 
(Fawcett)  Street,  and  grandson  of  Zadok  and  Sibyl 
(Tatum)  Street  and  of  David  and  Hannah  (Ball) 
Fawcett,  was  born  at  Salem,  Columbiana  County,  Ohio, 
November  11,  1860.  The  family  is  supposed  to  be  of 
German  origin,  the  name  being  originally  Streit.  An 
ancestor  entered  England  with  William  the  Conqueror. 
The  family  seat  was  Cornwall.  The  first  immigrant 
ancestor  in  this  country  was  Zadok  Street,  who  settled 
in  New  Castle,  Delaware.  Among  the  more  distin- 
guished ancestors  were  two  Quaker  ministers,  Zadock 
Street,  who  founded  the  town  of  Salem,  Ohio,  in  1805; 
and  Aaron  Street,  who  founded  Salem,  Tennessee; 
Salem,  Illinois;  Salem,  Indiana;  and,  in  1837,  Salem, 
Iowa.  Salem,  Oregon,  was  named  in  honor  of  Aaron 
Street,  because  he  furnished  the  map  that  guided  to  that 
region  the  pioneers  led  by  Mr.  Lewellyn. 

The  father  of  Mr.  Street,  Rev.  David  Street,  is  a 
Presbyterian  minister  residing  in  Utica,  New  York. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  pursued  his  preparatory 
studies  at  Ripon,  Wisconsin,  and  also  took  part  of  his 
college  course  at  Ripon  College,  going  through  a  part 
of  the  Junior  year.  He  entered  the  Junior  class  here 
in  the  fall  of  1883,  registering  from  Van  Wert,  Ohio. 
He  was  one  of  the  foremost  scholars  of  his  class,  receiv- 
ing an  honorable  mention  in  the  French  of  Junior  year, 
and  graduating  with  Phi  Beta  Kappa  rank.  He 

[598] 


Biographical  Sketches 

was  a  member  of  the  Philotechnian  Society;  of  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association;  and  of  the  Ly- 
ceum of  Natural  History,  in  which  he  was  for  a  time 
curator.  He  was  one  of  the  speakers  at  Commence- 
ment, his  appointment  being  a  Philosophical  Oration, 
and  the  subject  of  his  address  being  "Law  in  Modern 
Science." 

In  the  fall  after  graduating,  he  entered  Auburn 
Theological  Seminary,  intending  to  enter  foreign  mis- 
sionary work.  Failure  of  health,  however,  compelled 
him  for  a  time  to  drop  all  mental  work.  For  a  time 
he  engaged  in  civil  engineering,  and  in  1890  was  in  the 
employ  of  the  Spokane  Falls  and  Northern  Railway 
Company,  being  located  at  Spokane  Falls,  Washing- 
ton. In  1892  he  went  as  a  missionary  to  Hainan, 
China,  having  previously  supplied  for  a  time  the  Cen- 
tenary Presbyterian  Church  in  Spokane.  In  the  De- 
cennial Report  of  his  class,  issued  in  1905,  he  was  re- 
ported as  travelling  in  the  West  engaged  in  missionary 
work,  and  as  having  been  located  the  previous  year  in 
New  York.  On  January  10,  1910,  he  became  pastor 
of  Emmanuel  Presbyterian  Church  in  Oakland,  Cal- 
ifornia. This  position  he  held  for  two  years  and  then 
resigned  to  sail  again,  January  10,  1912,  for  the  island 
of  Hainan,  China,  as  a  missionary. 

He  was  married  June  2,  1897,  to  Miss  Janny  Mont- 
gomery. They  have  one  daughter,  Edith  Louise 
Street. 

Mr.  Street  published  in  1905  a  tract  entitled  "In- 
tercessory Foreign  Missionaries." 


CLASS  OF  1888 

HERBERT  MARSENA  ALLEN,  born  at  Harpoot,  Tur- 
key, March  8,  1865,  was  the  son  of  Orson  Pardy  Allen 
and  Caroline  Redington  (Wheeler)  Allen,  and  grand- 

[  599] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

son  of  Marsena  Allen  and  Hannah  Gates  (Percival) 
Allen,  and  of  Joel  Wheeler  and  Sybil  (Crosby) 
Wheeler.  He  came  of  a  missionary  family.  His  par- 
ents went  to  Turkey  in  1855,  and,  having  spent  a  short 
time  at  Smyrna  and  about  a  year  at  Trebizond,  settled 
in  1857  in  Harpoot,  where  they  remained  until  their 
return  to  this  country  in  1896.  The  mother  of  Mr. 
Allen  was  sister  of  Dr.  Crosby  H.  Wheeler,  who  was 
the  builder  and  first  president  of  Euphrates  College, 
and  who  began  work  at  Harpoot  at  the  same  time  with 
Mr.  Allen.  The  family  traces  its  descent  in  one  line 
from  Edward  Allen,  who  was  a  soldier  in  Cromwell's 
Army  and  migrated  from  Scotland  to  this  country, 
settling  in  Ipswich,  Massachusetts,  in  1636.  The  Per- 
cival ancestors  came  from  England,  settling  first  in 
Barnstable,  and  then  in  Lee,  Massachusetts,  and  sub- 
sequently in  Smyrna,  New  York.  Among  the  ances- 
tors, Apollos  Allen  and  John  Percival  were  soldiers  in 
the  Revolutionary  War.  There  thus  coursed  in  the 
veins  of  Mr.  Allen  the  blood  of  soldiers  and  mission- 
aries. He  was  happy  in  the  environment  of  his  youth. 
He  was  born  in  a  missionary  home  and  on  missionary 
ground.  He  had  the  guidance  of  parents  who  were 
gifted  with  the  finest  qualities  of  character.  The 
marked  characteristics  of  the  father,  whose  labors  of 
more  than  two  score  years  in  Turkey  were  eminently 
successful,  were  calmness,  deliberativeness,  sweetness  of 
disposition,  good  judgment.  Of  the  mother,  who  died 
in  Auburndale  in  1898,  it  was  said:  "Mrs.  Allen's  life 
in  the  mission  field  was  marked  by  intense  earnestness, 
activity,  and  zeal,  always  sustained  by  a  firm  faith  that 
all  efforts  were  ultimately  to  be  crowned  with  success." 
Mr.  Allen  fitted  for  college  at  the  Newton  High 
School,  and  entered  college  in  1884.  His  consistent 
Christian  life,  his  earnestness  and  seriousness  as  a  stu- 
dent, and  his  gentle  manners  soon  won  for  him  the 

[600] 


Biographical  Sketches 

respect  and  affection  of  students  and  teachers.  One 
of  his  preferences  was  for  the  study  of  languages.  He 
took  a  high  rank  in  Latin  and  Greek,  retaining  through 
life  his  love  for  the  Greek  language  and  Greek  his- 
tory. And  so,  when  in  subsequent  years  he  was  making 
missionary  tours  through  the  East,  he  never  failed  to 
describe  with  vivid  interest  the  historic  significance  of 
the  places  through  which  he  passed.  It  was  perhaps  in 
English  that  his  greatest  excellence  appeared.  His 
travels  in  other  countries  gave  him  an  unusually  wide 
range  of  subjects  on  which  to  write.  In  his  Senior  year 
he  was  one  of  the  editors  of  the  Williams  Literary 
Monthly,  for  which  he  wrote  much,  both  prose  and  po- 
etry. He  conducted  the  "Sanctum"  of  the  Monthly, 
and  was  thus  enabled  to  discuss  with  freedom  current 
college  events.  In  one  of  these  articles  he  rebuked  with 
manly  independence  what  he  considered  an  act  of  dis- 
courtesy of  some  of  his  fellow  students  shown  to  a  pro- 
fessor in  his  class-room.  When,  in  Senior  year,  he 
received  the  first  Griffin  prize  for  excellence  in  English 
Literature,  it  was  an  endorsement  of  a  judgment  al- 
ready expressed  by  his  classmates. 

He  was  a  member  of  the  Delta  Upsilon  Fraternity ; 
of  the  Philologian  Society;  and  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association.  On  Class  Day  he  was  the  Poet. 

That  Mr.  Allen  was  most  loyal  to  his  Alma  Mater 
and  loved  his  classmates  with  a  strong  affection,  is 
shown  in  the  annual  letters  written  to  the  class  secre- 
tary and  published  in  the  Class  Reports. 

On  graduation  from  the  college  in  1888,  he  went 
at  once  to  visit  his  home  in  Turkey.  In  1889  he  ac- 
companied Rev.  James  L.  Barton,  then  a  missionary 
at  Harpoot,  on  a  journey  to  Kurdistan.  In  1890  he 
returned  to  this  country  and  entered  Bangor  Theologi- 
cal Seminary,  from  which  he  was  graduated  in  1893. 
He  was  ordained  at  Bangor,  June  8,  of  the  same  year, 

[601] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

and  on  July  15,  he  and  his  wife  sailed  from  New  York 
for  the  Eastern  Turkey  Mission  at  Van,  at  which  place 
he  arrived  in  November.  Acquainted  as  he  was  from 
boyhood  with  the  Armenian  language  and  familiar 
with  the  customs  and  needs  of  the  people,  he  entered 
at  once  on  his  missionary  work  and  at  once  met  with 
success  both  as  a  teacher  and  preacher.  In  a  letter 
written  in  1895  he  speaks  of  the  crowded  Sunday  serv- 
ices and  of  his  preaching  to  about  500  people,  while  the 
Boys'  High  School,  of  which  he  was  principal,  had  over 
130  pupils.  Mr.  Allen  was  not  only  familiar  with  the 
history  of  the  Armenians  and  impressed  by  their  proud 
records,  but  he  sympathized  deeply  with  the  people  in 
their  poverty,  trials,  and  aspirations,  and  was  thus  en- 
abled to  secure  to  a  remarkable  degree  their  confidence 
and  friendship.  This  was  the  basis  of  his  great  influ- 
ence and  usefulness,  whether  as  teacher,  preacher,  or 
touring  evangelist. 

During  the  terrible  massacres  of  1896,  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Allen  fled,  for  a  time,  to  Urumia,  Persia.  After 
the  massacres  he  was  sent  by  a  relief  committee  to  Per- 
sia to  purchase  oxen  for  the  surviving  peasants.  By 
the  gift  of  oxen  and  seed  the  poor  people  were  able  to 
cultivate  their  fields  and  save  themselves  from  starva- 
tion. Worn  out  by  this  labor,  Mr.  Allen  and  fam- 
ily returned  to  America  in  1898.  Taking  his  release 
from  the  Board,  he  was  engaged  for  a  while  in  Cuban 
relief  work,  and  then,  under  the  auspices  of  the  Mas- 
sachusetts Home  Missionary  Society,  he  had  charge,  for 
a  few  years,  of  the  religious  work  among  the  Armenians 
who  were  settled  in  that  State,  being  at  one  time  Secre- 
tary of  an  Armenian  National  Council.  In  connec- 
tion with  this  work,  he  established  and  published  with 
much  success  an  Armenian  newspaper,  called  the 
Gochnag,  at  first  published  in  Boston  and  later  removed 
to  New  York  with  an  enlarged  field. 

[602] 


Biographical  Sketches 

In  a  letter  addressed  to  his  classmates,  he  gives  the 
following  prospectus  of  this  paper:  "We  aim,"  says  he, 
"to  provide  a  clean  and  wholesome  current  litera- 
ture with  plenty  of  news  to  educate  the  people  up  to 
Western  standards  of  thought  and  life  and  as  chance 
offers  to  counteract  some  of  the  evil  tendencies  grow- 
ing among  the  Americans." 

On  August  8,  1903,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Allen,  being  re- 
appointed  missionaries,  sailed  from  New  York  to  join 
the  Western  Turkey  mission  and  arrived  at  Bardezag 
on  the  2d  of  September.  Here,  in  the  absence  of  Dr. 
Robert  Chambers,  the  principal,  Mr.  Allen  for  two 
years  had  charge  of  the  Boys'  High  School,  which  then 
numbered  185  pupils.  Subsequently  he  entered  upon 
the  editorship  of  the  missionary  newspaper,  the  Aved- 
aper,  which  was  published  weekly  in  Constantinople, 
in  Armenian,  Turkish,  and  Greek,  and  which  went  to 
all  parts  of  the  Empire.  In  one  of  his  letters  he  gives 
an  account  of  a  tour  of  two  months  undertaken  in  the 
interest  of  his  paper  and  of  the  Student  Christian  Fed- 
eration, in  which  tour  he  travelled  6000  miles  and  ad- 
dressed 200  students.  At  one  time  he  represented  not 
only  the  Christian  Federation  of  the  World,  but  also 
the  United  Christian  Endeavor  Societies.  One  of  his 
last  services  to  the  people  of  Turkey  was  the  establish- 
ment of  a  weekly  newspaper,  the  Orient,  of  which  he 
became  editor.  The  paper  was  published  at  Constanti- 
nople, and  was  designed  to  carry  to  readers  all  through 
Turkey  and  the  United  States  the  educational, 
religious,  and  missionary  news  of  the  capital  and 
provinces.  In  a  letter  to  the  class  secretary,  writ- 
ten in  May,  1909,  a  few  months  after  the  celebra- 
tion of  the  twentieth  anniversary  of  his  class,  he 
described  the  stirring  events  of  the  preceding  nine 
months  in  Turkey,  out  of  which  events  had  come 
forth  a  new  regime,  with  a  removal  of  the  cen- 

[603  ] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

sorship  of  the  press  and  the  toleration  of  freedom  of 
speech. 

Mr.  Allen  died  of  pneumonia  in  Constantinople, 
January  25,  1911,  aged  46  years.  He  was  thus  taken 
away  in  the  very  prime  of  his  physical  and  mental 
powers,  and  when  his  influence,  already  great,  was  still 
increasing.  In  each  of  three  lines  of  work  in  which  he 
engaged  as  missionary — teaching,  preaching,  editing, 
— he  was  eminent,  while,  incidentally,  he  performed  an 
important  service  in  making  more  harmonious  the  re- 
lations between  the  Gregorian  and  Protestant  Churches 
in  Turkey. 

Rev.  Dr.  Joseph  K.  Greene,  of  Constantinople, 
wrote  of  him:  "The  American  Board  has  had  no  mis- 
sionary with  a  more  thorough  acquaintance  with  Ar- 
menian history  or  with  a  deeper  love  for  the  people; 
and  he  that  loved  much  was  also  much  beloved.  Dur- 
ing his  few  years  in  Constantinople  Mr.  Allen  secured 
high  esteem  by  reason  of  his  pure  and  modest  life,  his 
talents  and  attainments.  As  a  preacher  he  was  a 
favorite,  both  in  Armenian  circles  and  in  the  colleges; 
in  newspaper  publications  and  in  preaching  he  had  high 
ideals,  which  he  labored  hard  to  realize.  His  untimely 
death  in  the  vigor  of  manhood  was  a  great  shock,  and 
his  loss  will  be  widely  and  deeply  lamented.  'God 
buries  the  workers,  but  in  his  own  all-wise  and  inscru- 
table way  he  saves  the  work.' ' 

Mr.  Allen  was  married  in  Bangor,  Maine,  June 
10,  1893,  to  Miss  Ellen  Ropes  Ladd,  daughter  of  Ed- 
ward H.  and  Julia  (Marvin)  Ladd,  granddaugh- 
ter of  Theophilus  R.  Marvin  and  Julia  (Coggeshall) 
Marvin,  and  of  William  Gardner  and  Margaret  ( Gush- 
ing) Ladd,  and  a  descendant  from  Joseph  Ladd,  who 
came  from  London  to*  Portsmouth,  Rhode  Island,  on 
the  Hercules  in  1633.  An  uncle  of  Mrs.  Allen, 
William  T.  R.  Marvin,  was  graduated  from  Williams 

[604] 


Biographical  Sketches 

in  1854,  and  her  grandfather  Marvin  received  from 
Williams  the  honorary  degree  of  Master  of  Arts  in 
1859. 

Mr.  Allen  is  survived  by  the  widow  and  six  children : 
-Edith  Rogers;  H.  Marsena  Allen,  Jr.;  Doro- 
thy Martindale;  Gladys  Marvin;  Winifred  Ladd; 
Gwendolyn. 

In  addition  to  the  numerous  articles  prepared  by 
Mr.  Allen  for  the  paper  he  edited,  his  publications  con- 
sisted largely  of  numerous  articles  prepared  by  him  for 
various  papers  and  magazines. 

FREDERICK  JOSEPH  PERKINS,  son  of  Joseph  Leigh 
and  Flora  (Perry)  Perkins,  was  born  in  Royalston, 
Massachusetts,  February  2,  1865.  On  his  father's 
side  he  was  grandson  of  Rev.  Ebenezer  and  Amelia 
(Parish)  Perkins,  and  on  the  mother's  side,  the  grand- 
son of  Benjamin  and  Hannah  (Dean)  Perry.  The 
family  is  of  English  descent,  and  through  the  grand- 
mother, Amelia  Parish  Perkins,  Mr.  Perkins  was  de- 
scended from  Miles  Standish.  His  father  was  a  dealer 
in  real  estate. 

The  son  fitted  for  college  in  the  High  School  at 
Fitchburg,  Massachusetts,  and  entered  Williams  from 
that  place  as  a  Freshman  in  1884.  He  took  a  good 
rank  as  a  scholar,  but  owing  to  a  trouble  with  his  eyes 
he  left  college  near  the  end  of  his  Sophomore  year.  In 
college  he  was  a  member  of  the  Philotechnian  Society 
and  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association.  He 
went  into  business,  at  first  in  Fitchburg,  and  then  in 
Worcester,  Massachusetts.  Having  recovered  from 
the  trouble  with  his  eyes,  in  1888  he  entered  Hartford 
Theological  Seminary,  where  he  was  graduated  with 
some  of  his  former  Williams  classmates  in  1891. 

As  his  mother  had  always  been  much  interested  in 
foreign  missions,  and  as  a  sister  was  then  laboring  in  a 

[605] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

foreign  field,  Mr.  Perkins  naturally  decided  to  devote 
himself  to  that  work.  He  was  greatly  attracted  to 
Brazil,  and  receiving  an  appointment  from  the  Pres- 
byterian Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  he  went  to  Brazil 
in  July,  1891.  He  spent  the  first  year  in  the  interior 
learning  the  language.  It  was  his  desire  to  settle  in 
some  town  of  the  interior  and  devote  himself  to  evan- 
gelistic work.  He  was,  however,  needed  at  that  time 
in  educational  work  in  San  Paulo,  where  the  Presby- 
terians had  a  college  and  a  large  day  and  boarding 
school.  Mr.  Perkins  took  the  place  of  one  of  the  fac- 
ulty, who  was  temporarily  absent  by  reason  of  illness. 
On  the  return  of  the  regular  teacher,  it  was  found  that 
Mr.  Perkins  had  contracted  tuberculosis.  He  was  ac- 
cordingly ordered  by  the  physicians  to  return  to  the 
United  States.  He  returned  to  this  country  in  Jan- 
uary, 1895,  and  though  he  was  hopeful  of  recovery  and 
up  to  the  very  last  was  planning  to  return  to  Brazil, 
he  died  September  23  of  the  same  year. 

Mr.  Perkins  was  married  in  Hartford,  Connecticut, 
on  January  25,  1893,  to  Gertrude,  daughter  of  Dr. 
Melancthon  and  Jane  (Adams)  Storrs,  granddaughter 
of  William  and  Elizabeth  (Woodward)  Storrs,  and  of 
Rev.  Charles  S.  and  Jane  (Parker)  Adams,  and  a  de- 
scendant of  Samuel  Storrs,  who  came  from  England 
to  Barnstable,  Massachusetts,  in  1663.  Mrs.  Perkins 
now  resides  in  Brooklyn,  New  York.  A  daughter, 
Winifred  Storrs  Perkins,  is  preparing  for  college  at 
Rosemary  Hill  in  Greenwich,  Connecticut. 

JOHN  SOLOMON  PORTER,  son  of  Theodore  Brown 
and  Sarah  Ann  (Chapman)  Porter,  grandson  of  David 
and  Jerusha  (Sumner)  Porter,  and  of  Martin  and  Cla- 
rissa (Daniels)  Chapman,  was  born  in  Gilead,  Con- 
necticut, March  1,  1862.  The  family  is  descended  from 
John  and  Rose  Porter,  who  emigrated  from  England 

[  606  ] 


Biographical  Sketches 

and  settled  in  Windsor,  Connecticut,  in  1639.  Theo- 
dore Brown  Porter  was  a  farmer,  and  had  as  a  marked 
characteristic  a  great  fondness  for  books  and  reading. 

The  son,  John  Solomon  Porter,  pursued  his  prepar- 
atory studies  in  the  Hartford  High  School,  and  entered 
college  in  1883.  Owing  to  ill  health,  he  left  college  for 
a  time  and  entered  the  succeeding  class.  In  col- 
lege he  was  a  member  of  the  Philotechnian  Society,  in 
which  he  was  for  a  time  one  of  the  critics,  and  also  one 
of  the  treasurers.  He  was  also  a  member  of  the  Mills 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association;  of  the  Classical 
Society;  and  of  the  Reading-Room  Association,  in 
which  last  he  held  for  some  time  the  office  of  secretary 
and  treasurer.  He  was  an  assiduous  and  successful  stu- 
dent, graduating  with  a  Commencement  appointment. 
He  was  one  of  the  speakers  at  Commencement,  the  sub- 
ject of  his  address  being  "Private  Letters."  His  career 
as  a  student  was  marked  by  extreme  conscientiousness 
in  all  his  relations  and  by  earnest  devotion  to  duty.  His 
influence  was  invariably  on  the  side  of  good  order  and 
upright  conduct.  He  belonged  to  that  noble  band  of 
students,  unhappily  not  so  much  in  evidence  now  as  for- 
merly, who  are  not  ashamed  to  help  themselves  through 
college  by  the  performance  of  manual  labor. 

After  graduation  from  college  he  entered  Hartford 
Theological  Seminary,  where  he  was  graduated  in  1891. 
Receiving  an  appointment  from  the  American  Board, 
he  sailed  from  Boston,  October  24  of  the  same  year  to 
reinforce  the  mission  in  Austria,  arriving  at  Prague, 
November  17.  Although  the  field  to  which  Mr.  Porter 
was  assigned  was  one  where  there  were  many  and  pecul- 
iar obstacles,  yet  it  was  a  field  where  missionaries  of  the 
American  Board  had  labored  for  twenty  years,  and 
where  the  mission  had  been  marked  by  steady  progress. 
The  peculiar  importance  of  the  mission  was  shown  not 
only  by  its  supplying  native  laborers  as  preachers  and 

[607] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

evangelists  for  its  own  immediate  work,  but  by  the  gen- 
erous contributions  which  it  made  in  aid  of  Bohemian 
work  in  the  United  States.  When  Mr.  Porter  entered 
upon  his  labors,  the  mission  had  become  a  power  in  Bo- 
hemia, and  was  widening  in  its  influence,  and  many  who 
had  formerly  opposed  it  had  come  to  recognize  its  value 
to  the  social  and  moral  life  of  the  people.  Mr.  Porter's 
first  letter  to  the  Missionary  Herald  reflects  the  favor- 
able conditions  in  which  he  entered  upon  his  work.  After 
speaking  of  his  great  joy  at  meeting  his  former  pastor, 
Mr.  Clark,  whom  he  had  not  seen  for  nineteen  years, 
and  with  whom  he  was  to  be  associated  in  the  work  of  the 
mission,  he  wrote  as  follows  of  a  communion  service 
held  soon  after  his  arrival:  "The  hall  was  packed  to  its 
utmost  and  the  air  was  stifling  before  the  service  began. 
The  hall  is  far  too  small  for  the  growing  work  in  this 
beautiful  suburb.  We  must  move  soon,  and  this  house 
can  be  sold  at  quite  an  advance  over  the  purchasing 
price  when  the  Betanie  Society  took  legal  possession. 
Mr.  Clark  preached  a  sermon  that  was  listened  to  with 
deep  interest.  Then  four  were  received  to  membership, 
among  them  two  young  lawyers,  whose  coming  means 
for  them  a  sort  of  losing  caste  and  for  us  the  reception 
of  the  first  fully  educated  men.  We  have  those  who 
since  they  came  in  have  been  trained  and  educated,  but 
here  are  two  young  men  ready  to  lead  meetings  and  de- 
sirous of  books  that  will  give  them  a  deeper  knowledge 
of  God's  Word  and  more  power  in  witnessing  for  him. 
I  am  anticipating  finding  in  them  pleasant  companions, 
and  such  are  by  no  means  easy  to  find  here." 

Under  date  of  February  12,  1903,  after  twelve  years 
of  service,  Mr.  Porter  speaks  of  the  growth  of  the  mis- 
sion in  many  lines,  calling  especial  attention  to  the  fact 
that  larger  halls  were  needed  for  the  accommodation  of 
the  people  who  wished  to  attend  evangelical  services, 
and  then  continues  as  follows:  "One  of  our  young  men, 

[608] 


Biographical  Sketches 

unmarried,  has  with  great  self-denial  rented  a  tenement 
in  Nusle,  a  suburb  of  Weinberge,  and  we  are  conduct- 
ing two  services  weekly  under  his  roof.  Would  that  we 
had  more  who  could  and  would  imitate  his  example! 
Our  new  house  in  Smichor  is  approaching  completion. 
The  larger  hall  is  needed.  Zizkor,  another  suburb  of 
Prague,  has  now  a  larger  hall.  Since  November  1  the 
members  there  have  formed  themselves  into  a  separate 
church  organization,  the  growing  congregations,  under 
the  lead  of  Mr.  Urbanek,  calling  for  the  same.  In 
Kladno,  a  city  of  miners,  twenty  miles  from  Prague, 
we  are  looking  for  a  larger  hall.  We  shall  soon  form 
a  Y.  M.  C.  A.  there.  In  Nachod,  in  Eastern  Bohemia, 
we  shall  move  to  larger  quarters  just  as  soon  as  we  can 
find  something  suitable.  The  hall  is  crowded  to  suffo- 
cation. In  Budweis,  in  South  Bohemia,  we  have  since 
August  last  a  larger  hall.  In  Pisek,  also  in  South  Bo- 
hemia, we  have  enlarged  our  borders.  In  Pilsen,  in 
Western  Bohemia,  we  have  purchased  a  house  with  a 
large  dance  hall  in  the  rear,  admirably  suited  for  our 
work.  This  we  shall  dedicate  at  our  annual  church  con- 
ference, May  20-22.  We  hope  that  soon  that  church 
will  be  self-supporting.  In  Prossnitz,  in  Moravia,  we 
have  a  larger  hall  also." 

These  extracts  from  Mr.  Porter's  letters  give  a  good 
idea  not  only  of  the  growth  of  his  work  in  Bohemia,  but 
of  the  variety  and  extent  of  his  labors.  The  work  in 
Moravia,  to  which  reference  was  made  above,  was  subse- 
quently greatly  extended. 

Mr.  Porter  has  visited  the  United  States  three  times 
during  his  period  of  service  in  Austria:  in  1893,  1897, 
and  1910.  The  last  visit  was  prolonged  on  account  of 
the  effort  made  by  him  to  raise  $35,000  for  the  churches 
that  had  been  established  in  his  field. 

On  October  3,  1893,  Mr.  Porter  was  married  at 
Manchester,  Connecticut,  to  Miss  Lizzie  Colver,  daugh- 

[609] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

ter  of  Nathan  F.  and  Ellen  E.  Colver,  granddaughter 
of  Nathan  and  Lucretia  Colver,  and  of  Austin  and 
Meriva  Root. 

There  have  been  born  to  them  a  son  and  a  daughter: 
Livingstone  Porter,  a  student,  preparing  for  college; 
and  Margaret  Porter. 


CLASS  OF  1889 

BOON  BOON-ITT  was  born  in  Bang  Pa,  near  Bang- 
kok, Siam,  February  15,  1865,  but  was  of  Chinese  de- 
scent. His  father,  Chin  Boon  Sooie,  was  of  Chinese 
extraction;  and  his  mother,  Maa  Tuan,  boasted  that 
there  was  no  Siamese  blood  in  her  veins,  her  ancestors 
being  all  either  Chinese  or  Cambodians.  Her  father, 
Qua-Kieng,  was  a  full-blooded  Chinese,  and  was  the 
first  native  member  of  the  first  Presbyterian  church  or- 
ganized in  Siam,  having  been  baptized  in  1844  by  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Johnson  of  the  American  Board  Mission. 
When  this  Board  in  1849  withdrew  from  Siam,  he 
transferred  his  membership  to  the  Presbyterian  Church 
in  Bangkok.  He  was  a  man  of  more  than  ordinary  at- 
tainments, and  on  that  account  was  employed  by  the 
mission  as  an  assistant  until  the  time  of  his  death  in 
1859. 

Qua-Kieng's  wife  was  not  a  Christian,  but  after  his 
death  two  sons  and  a  daughter,  the  mother  of  Boon-Itt, 
united  with  the  church  at  Bangkok. 

Maa  Tuan  was  a  woman  of  unusual  gifts.  As  she 
was  the  first  of  Siamese  women  to  accept  Christianity 
she  was  the  first  to  work  for  the  education  of  the  women 
of  Siam.  She  had  been  educated  in  the  Presbyterian 
mission  school  in  Bangkok,  and  after  graduation  be- 
came matron  of  the  school.  In  1880  she  taught  in  the 
palace  and  had  the  queen  for  one  of  her  pupils.  For 
many  years  she  taught  with  great  efficiency  in  the  mis- 

[610] 


Biographical  Sketches 

sion  schools  and  was  ever  a  faithful  witness  for  Christ. 
Through  her  influence  nearly  all  her  near  relatives  be- 
came Christians.  As  there  was  no  church  at  Bang  Pa, 
she  removed  to  Sumray,  a  suburb  of  Bangkok,  where 
she  could  have  the  sympathy  of  fellow  Christians  and 
obtain  religious  instruction  for  her  three  children. 
Boon-Itt  with  his  younger  brother  was  placed  in  the 
Christian  boarding-school  at  Sumray,  where  he  soon 
became  a  great  favorite,  standing  well  in  his  classes  and 
being  a  leader  in  sports  of  all  kinds. 

In  1876,  when  Boon-Itt  was  eleven,  an  important 
change  came  into  his  life.  At  that  time  Dr.  and  Mrs. 
Samuel  R.  House,  after  thirty  years  of  service  in  Siam, 
returning  to  their  native  land,  took  with  them  from 
Siam  two  boys  to  be  educated  in  America.  One  of  these 
boys  was  Nai  Kawn  and  the  other  Boon-Itt.  The  home 
to  which  they  came  was  in  Waterford,  New  York, 
where  Boon-Itt  became  an  attendant  and  subsequently 
a  member  of  Dr.  Arthur  T.  Pierson's  church.  He  soon 
won  the  affectionate  interest  of  the  people,  and  when 
he  was  ready  to  labor  among  his  own  people,  he  was 
adopted  as  their  missionary  by  the  Presbyterian  Church 
of  Waterford. 

In  1881  when  the  boys  were  sixteen,  Dr.  House  sent 
them  to  Williston  Seminary  to  be  prepared  for  college. 
Here  Boon-Itt  manifested  qualities  that  made  him  pop- 
ular with  teacher  and  students.  His  eagerness  for 
knowledge  made  him  a  favorite  pupil  in  the  class  room, 
while  in  the  gymnasium  and  on  the  athletic  field  he  won 
equal  distinction.  Says  one  who  knew  him:  "His  swim- 
ming feats  and  records  were  never  equalled.  In  the 
class  room  his  work  was  always  well  done.  In  the  lit- 
erary society  he  was  one  of  the  merriest  and  most  faith- 
ful. Everywhere  his  good  humor  and  hearty  laugh 
were  contagious,  and  his  unselfishness  was  a  by-word." 
At  Williams  College,  to  which,  it  is  said,  he  had  been 

[611] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

drawn  on  account  of  its  superior  moral  tone,  and  Mark 
Hopkins,  the  reputation  he  had  gained  at  Easthamp- 
ton  was  continued.  He  was  a  conscientious  and  suc- 
cessful student  and  beloved  by  all  who  knew  him.  In 
college  he  took  a  prominent  place  in  a  class  that  had  an 
unusual  number  of  men  of  marked  ability.  Among  his 
classmates  were  Howard  Kennedy,  James  Richard  Mc- 
Donald, Frank  Jewett  Mather,  Charles  Thaddeus 
Terry,  and  William  Robert  Williams.  He  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Philologian  Society  and  was  one  of  the  more 
active  members  of  the  Lyceum  of  Natural  History,  in 
which  he  was  curator  for  one  year.  While  biology  and 
moral  philosophy  were  his  favorite  studies,  he  was  suc- 
cessful in  all  departments.  He  received  one  of  the 
Benedict  prizes  and  an  honorable  mention  in  Natural 
History.  He  also  had  an  appointment  and  was  one  of 
the  speakers  at  Commencement,  the  subject  of  his  ad- 
dress being  "An  Indian  Torch." 

Although  as  a  professing  Christian  he  had  been 
regular  in  his  attendance  upon  church,  and  a  faithful 
student  of  the  Bible,  it  was  not  till  his  college  years  that 
he  met  with  that  awakening  and  change  which  led  to  a 
full  surrender  to  God  and  the  resolution  to  study  for 
the  ministry  and  return  as  a  missionary  to  his  native 
land.  Meanwhile  he  became  active  in  the  various  forms 
of  the  Christian  Association  work  and  exerted  a  strong 
influence  in  the  Christian  life  of  the  college.  Socially, 
he  was  ever  the  Christian  gentleman,  modest,  courteous, 
the  soul  of  honor,  superior  to  all  meanness,  loyal  in  his 
friendships.  A  classmate  who  was  most  intimate  with 
him  has  written  of  him:  "I  remember  with  what 
spirit  he  entered  into  the  fun  and  the  contests  of  the 
campus — lithe,  active,  quick,  strong,  but  never  rough 
nor  rude ;  with  what  enthusiasm  and  nicety  he  dissected 
and  studied  and  accurately  draughted  the  subjects  be- 
fore him  on  our  table  in  the  biological  laboratory,  and 

[612] 


Biographical  Sketches 

with  what  interest  he  reported  to  the  meetings  of  the 
L.  N.  H. ;  with  what  cordial  hospitality  he  opened  his 
rooms  to  all  who  would  come  and  made  each  welcome  at 
any  hour,  day  or  night, — for  years  I  carried  a  key  to 
his  rooms, — and  what  a  true  and  loyal  friend  he  was; 
with  what  earnestness,  simplicity,  and  absolute  sincer- 
ity he  lived  out  his  religious  faith  and  how  actively  he 
worked  in  Sunday-schools  and  prayer  meetings,  in  Pro- 
fessor Drummond's  deputation  work,  and  in  the  Y.  M. 
C.  A.,  and  always  quietly,  modestly,  and  unaffectedly." 

Before  entering  the  theological  seminary,  he  spent 
a  summer  vacation  at  Northfield,  Massachusetts,  to 
learn  from  Mr.  Moody  the  art  of  Bible  study  and  his 
method  of  winning  men  to  Christ.  In  the  fall  of  1889 
he  entered  Auburn  Theological  Seminary,  where  he  was 
graduated  in  1902,  and  where  he  remained  an  additional 
year  for  post-graduate  work.  During  these  seminary 
years  he  spent  one  vacation  preaching  in  Michigan,  and 
one  at  Bergen,  New  York.  He  had  become  thoroughly 
imbued  with  the  American  spirit,  and  while  a  member 
of  the  seminary  he  acquired  American  citizenship. 

He  was  ordained  by  the  Presbytery  at  Rochester, 
New  York,  May  11,  1892,  and  when  he  was  appointed 
to  missionary  service  by  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions, 
the  Young  People's  Societies  of  the  Presbytery  as- 
sumed his  support. 

America  had  been  his  home  for  seventeen  years,  and 
when  in  1893  he  returned  to  Siam  to  take  up  his  life 
work,  it  was  not  without  much  sacrifice,  though  with  the 
highest  joy  in  the  thought  of  working  for  the  young 
men  of  Siam. 

His  first  effort  was  to  perfect  himself  in  the  use  of 
the  language,  which  he  had  not  used  since  he  was  eleven 
years  of  age.  But  language  study  was  easy  for  him; 
he  had  a  thorough  knowledge  of  English,  and  could 
read  at  sight  Greek  and  Hebrew.  It  was  the  ambition 

[613] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

of  his  mother  that  he  should  become  a  Siamese  scholar, 
and  the  missionaries  had  the  hope  that  he  would  become 
qualified  to  revise  the  translation  of  the  Bible.  During 
the  months  of  preparation  and  while  living  at  Sumray, 
he  aided  the  mission  work  in  various  ways ;  he  did  liter- 
ary work  for  the  mission  press,  made  evangelistic  tours 
to  the  peninsula  by  boat  and  overland,  making  good  use 
of  the  stereopticon  to  attract  the  villagers  to  the  story 
of  Christ.  In  one  of  his  letters  to  friends  in  America 
he  wrote:  "It  is  a  great  joy  to  tell  the  story  of  Jesus  to 
the  multitudes  who  have  never  heard  it  before." 

On  September  23,  1897,  he  married  his  cousin,  Maa 
Kim  Hock,  who  had  recently  graduated  from  the  Har- 
riet House  School.  She  proved  herself  a  true  helpmeet 
to  her  husband,  fully  sympathizing  with  him  in  his  life 
work  and  aiding  him  in  his  efforts  to  elevate  their  peo- 
ple. When  soon  after  his  engagement  he  received  from 
a  commercial  house  a  renewed  offer  of  a  large  salary  in 
gold  if  he  would  enter  their  service,  she,  when  consulted, 
said:  "I  think  we  would  be  far  happier  doing  the  Lord's 
work  on  a  little  money  than  to  leave  it  for  this  large 


sum." 


Soon  after  their  marriage,  Boon-Itt  and  his  wife  left 
Sumray  and  went  with  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Toy  to  open  a  new 
station  at  Pitsanuloke,  a  month's  journey  up  the  Me- 
nam  River  from  Bangkok.  Here  his  special  work 
was  to  establish  and  develop  a  boys'  boarding-school. 
Through  the  efforts  of  Boon-Itt  the  school  was  estab- 
lished without  a  dollar  of  foreign  money.  The  land  was 
given  by  the  Siamese  chief  commissioner,  and  the  over 
four  thousand  ticals  required  for  the  teak  building  were 
raised  in  Pitsanuloke.  The  standard  of  scholarship  in 
the  school  was  high.  "In  the  competitive  government 
examinations  the  boys"  of  this  school  gained  the  highest 
percentages,  over  the  boys  of  the  government  public 
school  and  the  Koyal  Survey  School." 

[614] 


Biographical  Sketches 

Boon-Itt  had  a  strong  personal  interest  in  the  boys, 
becoming  their  companion  and  guide,  tramping  with 
them  on  Saturdays  into  the  jungle  there  to  study  na- 
ture. His  influence  over  them,  as  was  to  be  expected, 
was  unbounded  and  he  won  from  them  their  deep  and 
abiding  affection. 

But  a  larger  field  was  awaiting  him.  Thousands  of 
bright  young  men  were  flocking  to  Bangkok,  and  the 
well-to-do  classes  were  becoming  interested  in  foreign 
ideas,  and  there  were  no  adequate  church  privileges  to 
meet  the  wants  of  such  a  population.  When,  in  1902, 
Rev.  Dr.  Arthur  J.  Brown,  Secretary  of  the  Presby- 
terian Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  visited  Siam  on  a 
tour  of  inspection,  he  found  the  imperative  need  of  a 
new  church  in  Bangkok.  "In  the  main  part  of  the 
city,"  he  wrote,  "are  scores  of  young  men  and  women 
who  were  educated  at  our  boarding-schools.  Many  of 
them  are  Christians.  Properly  led,  they  might  be  a 
power  for  Christ.  For  this  great  work  a  man  and  a 
church  are  needed  at  once;  no  other  need  in  Siam  is 
more  urgent.  The  man  should  be  able  to  speak  the  high 
Siamese  like  a  native.  He  should  be  conversant  with 
the  intricacies  of  Siamese  customs  and  etiquette,  and  so 
understand  the  native  mind  that  he  can  enter  into  sym- 
pathy with  it  and  be  able  to  mold  it  for  God.  There  is 
one  man  in  Siam  who  meets  all  these  conditions.  That 
man  is  Rev.  Boon  Boon-Itt,  already  a  member  of  the 
mission,  and  one  of  the  most  remarkable  men  I  have 
met  in  Asia.  At  the  head  of  his  'clan,'  whose  family 
home  is  in  Bangkok,  he  is  widely  and  favorably  known 
in  the  capital.  Young  men  like  him  and  resort  to  him 
for  advice  whenever  he  visits  the  city." 

In  accordance  with  this  recommendation  Boon-Itt 
was  transferred  to  Bangkok  and  had  one  short  year  of 
most  important  and  successful  work. 

Funds  for  the  new  church  were  forthcoming.    Phra 

[615] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

Montri,  a  Siamese  nobleman,  who  had  been  educated  at 
Columbia  College,  and  had  lost  his  only  son,  offered 
to  furnish  all  the  money  needed,  above  what  the  Siamese 
Christians  could  give,  for  building  a  church  in  Bangkok, 
in  the  hope  that  many  young  men  might  be  reached.  It 
was  Phra  Montri's  wish  that  Boon-Itt  should  take 
charge  of  this  enterprise,  which  he  did.  Near  the  site 
of  the  new  church,  buildings  for  the  Christian  Boys' 
High  School  began  to  be  erected.  Cottage  prayer  meet- 
ings were  started;  Christian  worship  was  established  in 
many  homes,  and  a  Christian  community  began  to  grow 
up  in  the  neighborhood. 

Boon-Itt  was  anxious  to  do  something  for  the  young 
men  during  the  week  days  as  well  as  on  Sunday,  and 
had  in  mind  an  institution  something  like  a  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association,  with  a  building  contain- 
ing library,  reading-rooms,  and  gymnasium.  Through 
the  efforts  of  two  of  his  student  friends,  two  Presby- 
terian churches  of  America  agreed  to  contribute  $500 
a  year  to  carry  on  this  work. 

But  just  as  his  plans  were  about  to  meet  with  ful- 
filment, and  his  influence  was  widening,  and  when  he 
"was  standing  on  the  threshold  of  a  career  which  would 
apparently  make  him  one  of  the  most  influential  Chris- 
tian leaders  in  Asia,"  he  was  suddenly  seized  with  the 
cholera,  and  after  a  sickness  of  ten  days  died  May  8, 
1903.  He  left  a  widow  and  three  children. 

The  death  of  Boon-Itt  called  forth  expressions  of 
the  deepest  sorrow  from  his  fellow  missionaries,  from 
the  Siamese,  to  whom  his  death  seemed  an  irreparable 
loss,  and  from  student  mates  and  other  friends  in  Amer- 
ica. Quickly  there  came  from  various  quarters  the  ex- 
pression of  a  desire  to  erect  some  memorial  which  should 
perpetuate  his  influence.  Committees  appointed  in 
Siam  and  America  soon  secured  the  necessary  funds, 
and  a  "Boon-Itt  Memorial"  has  been  erected  in  Bang- 

[616] 


Biographical  Sketches 

kok.  It  is  a  beautiful  structure,  carrying  out  Boon-Itt's 
own  plan  of  a  building,  something  like  the  Y.  M.  C.  A. 
buildings  in  America,  where  there  are  a  library,  read- 
ing-room, chapel,  etc.,  to  aid  in  Christian  work  among 
young  people.  Contributions  for  the  memorial  were 
received  from  friends  in  America  and  from  all  classes  in 
Siam,  including  members  of  the  royal  family.  Prince 
Damrong,  Minister  of  the  Interior,  said  when  asked  to 
contribute:  "I  am  glad  to  help  in  a  memorial  to  that 
splendid  man.  Boon-Itt  was  a  true  Christian.  You 
may  not  know  that  I  offered  him  a  position  which  would 
have  led  to  high  titles  of  nobility  from  the  King  of 
Siam,  to  the  governorship  of  a  large  province,  and  to 
a  large  increase  in  his  income.  Yet  he  declined  these 
high  honors  and  financial  benefits  that  he  might  con- 
tinue in  the  service  of  Jesus  Christ." 

He  died  before  he  had  reached  two  score  years,  yet 
the  memory  of  the  years  he  passed  in  this  country  is 
treasured  by  manj^  as  a  precious  inheritance,  while  his 
ten  years  of  missionary  service  made  him  the  acknowl- 
edged leader  of  the  Christian  Church  in  Siam. 

A  memorial  pamphlet  of  Boon-Itt  was  published 
soon  after  his  death  by  the  Presbyterian  Board  of  For- 
eign Missions.  A  good  picture  of  him  and  an  illustra- 
tion of  the  Memorial  Building  are  contained  in  the  May 
number  of  the  Missionary  Review  of  the  World  for 
1912,  and  are  also  reproduced  in  this  volume. 

Judge  Kennedy,  the  writer  of  the  following  letter, 
was,  as  will  be  seen,  not  only  a  classmate  but  a  most 
intimate  friend  of  Boon-Itt. 

Lincoln,  Nebraska,  August  10,  1914. 
My  dear  Professor  Hewitt : 

My  acquaintance  with  Boon-Itt  began  a  few  days 
before  the  opening  of  the  fall  term  at  Williams  in  1885, 
and  we  soon  became  close  friends  and  continued  such  as 

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Williams  College  and  Missions 

long  as  he  lived.  I  count  it  a  privilege  to  contribute  to 
your  biography  of  him  a  brief  characterization  of  the 
Boon-Itt  whom  I  knew. 

As  I  think  back  over  the  years  that  are  gone,  I  am 
impressed  especially  by  two  things — the  symmetry  of 
his  character  and  his  extraordinary  unselfishness. 

His  body  was  small-framed  but  muscular,  well-knit, 
lithe,  active,  quick  of  movement,  with  great  power  of 
endurance.  He  engaged  freely  in  the  wholesome  sports 
of  the  campus  and  loved  the  out-of-door  life  of  field  and 
wood  and  stream. 

His  mind  was  alert,  keen,  analytical  and  busied  it- 
self with  the  great  problems  of  human  existence.  He 
himself  wrote  me,  "I  am  of  the  opinion  that  Eastern 
minds  have  a  way  of  getting  at  things  which  is  some- 
what different  from  the  Western."  The  combination  of 
his  Oriental  mind  and  his  Western  education  and  train- 
ing resulted  in  a  breadth  of  view  and  a  catholicity  of 
understanding  most  unusual.  He  loved  the  beautiful 
in  nature  and  art,  and  appreciated  the  best  in  literature 
and  music.  He  had  an  unfailing  sense  of  humor  and 
was  a  most  charming  companion.  He  was  modest,  gen- 
tle, refined,  courteous,  generous,  hospitable,  and  pos- 
sessed to  the  highest  degree  the  gift  of  friendship. 

He  was  deeply  religious  but  was  entirely  free  from 
the  narrowness  and  prejudice  which  characterize  many 
religious  people.  He  was  never  flippant  concerning 
serious  subjects,  nor  was  there  anything  of  cant  or  pre- 
tense about  him.  His  faith  and  devotion  were  real  and 
deep-seated,  not  formal  nor  merely  habitual.  He  was 
broad-minded  and  clear- visioned  and  saw  things  in  their 
true  relations  and  right  proportions.  There  was  noth- 
ing of  the  "goody-good"  in  him. 

It  is  sometimes  charged  that  Orientals  are  lazy  and 
deceitful.  Boon-Itt  was  neither.  He  entered  into  life 
fully  and  busied  himself  with  everything  that  was  good, 

[618] 


Biographical  Sketches 

He  was  the  soul  of  honor  and  truth.  When  he  was  in 
college  he  was  most  active  in  the  service  of  outlying 
Sabbath-schools  and  prayer  meetings,  walking  miles  in 
all  sorts  of  weather  not  only  to  teach  and  to  pray  but  to 
visit  the  sick  and  minister  to  the  dying.  When  in  Au- 
burn Seminary,  he  taught  physics  to  a  Chatauqua  cir- 
cle; at  Bad  Axe,  Michigan,  while  ministering  to  two 
congregations,  he  found  time  to  renew  the  study  of 
geology  and  to  prepare  a  boy  for  his  entrance  examina- 
tions at  college;  and  in  the  heart  of  Siam,  with  all  his 
other  work,  he  took  up  the  study  of  Sanskrit  and  gath- 
ered together  the  folk-lore  of  his  people. 

He  had  something  of  a  struggle  to  determine 
whether  his  mission  should  be  to  preach  or  to  heal.  He 
was  very  strongly  drawn  to  the  practice  of  medicine  but 
finally  concluded  that  the  ministry  of  the  Word  was  the 
greatest  need  of  his  people  and  gave  himself  to  it  with- 
out reservation. 

When  he  had  completed  his  theological  course  and 
presented  himself  to  the  Presbyterian  Board  of  Foreign 
Missions  to  be  commissioned  as  a  missionary,  his  un- 
selfish devotion  to  the  cause  was  subjected  to  a  very 
bitter  test.  The  Board  decided  to  send  him  out  as  an 
"honorary"  member  of  the  Mission,  that  is,  he  was  to  be 
present  at  all  meetings  but  was  to  have  no  vote,  and 
his  salary  was  to  be  determined  by  the  Mission  and 
not  fixed  by  the  Board. 

This  action  by  the  Board  has  always  seemed  to  me 
most  narrow,  most  unwise  and  essentially  unchristian, 
but  Boon-Itt's  heart  was  in  the  work  and,  however  much 
he  was  hurt  and  humiliated,  he  accepted  the  ungenerous 
conditions.  In  a  letter  to  me,  written  in  March,  1893, 
referring  to  this  action,  he  writes:  "I  am  willing  to  try 
and  work,  but  I  am  not,  of  course,  satisfied.  The  only 
basis  of  work,  with  as  little  friction  as  may  be,  is  worth, 
be  the  person  black,  white,  red,  or  yellow.  The  constant 

[619] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

allusions  to  the  jealousies  of  the  native  Christians,  also 
the  untrustworthiness  of  converts,  are  far  from  pleasant 
to  hear.  It  certainly  pays  a  doubtful  tribute  to  Chris- 
tianity as  well  as  viewing  the  question  from  only  one 
side." 

When  he  reached  Siam,  the  Mission  fixed  his  salary 
at  but  little  more  than  one-half  that  received  by  the 
others  under  like  conditions,  and  allowances  for  rent, 
etc.,  were  similarly  disproportionate. 

This  inequality  he  felt  not  so  much  for  himself  as  for 
his  people.  He  saw  that  such  discrimination,  based  on 
racial  difference,  greatly  impeded  the  progress  of  the 
gospel.  "Both  sides"  [natives  and  missionaries],  he 
wrote,  "agree  and  feel  that  Christianity  is  an  exotic.  It 
is  true  the  cosmopolitan  nature  of  our  religion  is  not  yet 
recognized  by  my  own  people.  They  say  it  is  the  reli- 
gion of  the  foreigners.  Christianity  in  order  to  be  in- 
digenous must  take  root  and  grow  in  the  family."  He 
saw  that  to  make  Siam  Christian  must  be,  ultimately, 
the  work  of  a  Siamese  Christian  Church,  self-support- 
ing and  self-directed,  responsible  to  God  and  not  to  a 
foreign  mission,  and  to  this  end  he  worked. 

This  race  prejudice  was  slow  to  be  overcome.  He 
had  the  disheartening  experience  of  a  lack  of  apprecia- 
tion and  understanding  on  the  part  of  his  fellow  work- 
ers, for  several  years.  In  February,  1898,  he  wrote  me 
from  Pitsanuloke:  "This  year  I  did  not  attend  the  Mis- 
sion meeting  and  Dr.  Toy,  who  attended  it,  told  me 
some  pretty  mean  things  that  were  said  of  me  by  some 
of  my  fellow-laborers.  It  came  at  a  time  when  I  was 
weary  and  half-sick  with  building  this  house,  in  which 
we  have  now  been  living  for  eight  days.  It  was  not 
built  with  Mission  money.  I  was  and  am  trying  to  do 
my  best  for  the  good  of  my  people,  and  to  be  criticized 
year  in  and  year  out  and  suspected  by  some  who  ought 
to  give  me  hearty  support,  made  me  feel  terribly  dis- 

[620] 


Biographical  Sketches 

couraged.  For  the  first  time  since  my  return  my  hopes 
sank  and  I  felt  like  giving  up.  I  told  no  one,  not  even 
my  wife."  At  this  very  time  there  came  offers  of  ease 
and  station  and  large  salary,  but  with  that  constancy 
and  unselfishness  which  characterized  his  whole  life 
he  and  his  devoted  wife  clung  to  their  work  and  went  on. 

He  must  have  been  a  great  teacher.  He  wrote,  in 
1897,  concerning  a  bamboo  schoolhouse  he  was  building 
in  Pitsanuloke,  and  adds:  "As  I  have  men  who  study 
Christianity  I  have  to  spend  a  good  deal  of  time  for- 
mulating what  are  the  fundamental  doctrines  of  Chris- 
tianity. We  can  use  phrases  in  the  States  and  be 
understood.  .  .  .  Here  it  is  de  novo.  ...  I  use  no 
text-book.  I  do  not  know  of  any.  I  endeavor  to  an- 
alyze as  honestly  as  I  know  how  myself  and  use  my 
experience  as  a  guide — not  as  an  infallible  guide,  but 
only  as  a  working  basis." 

And  so  he  thought  and  taught  and  wrought  with 
self-forgetfulness  and  patience,  with  forbearance  and 
diligence,  through  trial  and  discouragement,  to  achieve- 
ment and  recognition  and  success — an  ideal,  Christian 
gentleman  and  the  best  I  have  ever  known. 

Faithfully  yours, 
HOWARD  KENNEDY. 

CLASS  OF  1890 

EGBERT  SMYTH  ELLIS,  son  of  Rev.  Thomas  Long 
and  Mary  Angelia  (Hayes)  Ellis,  was  born  in  Kittery, 
Maine,  May  3,  1866.  He  pursued  his  preparatory  stud- 
ies at  Phillips  Academy,  Andover,  and  entered  college 
in  1886.  Although  he  was  of  a  modest  and  retiring  dis- 
position, his  influence  in  college  was  always  of  a  posi- 
tive nature,  and  uniformly  on  the  side  of  the  right.  A 
nice  conscientiousness  in  the  discharge  of  every  duty, 
both  in  and  out  of  the  class  room,  and  great  earnestness 
and  persistency  of  purpose,  were  striking  characteristics 

[621] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

of  the  student.  He  was  one  of  those  youths  upon  whom 
the  words  of  the  teacher  are  not  lost.  In  a  class  un- 
usually large  and  having  many  superior  scholars, 
he  was  an  assiduous  and  successful  student,  receiving 
an  appointment  and  being  one  of  the  speakers  at  Com- 
mencement, the  subject  of  his  address  being  "A  Vision." 
According  to  his  own  account  it  was  in  his  Senior 
year  in  the  academy  that  he  decided  to  go  as  a  mission- 
ary, being  led  to  this  decision  by  a  consideration  of  the 
mission  of  Jesus  Christ,  especially  as  presented  by  Jo- 
seph Neesima.  He  pursued  his  theological  studies  at 
Andover,  graduating  in  1894.  During  his  seminary 
course  he  supplied,  with  unusual  acceptance,  one  of  the 
churches  in  Lowell,  Massachusetts.  He  was  ordained 
June  11,  at  the  close  of  the  seminary  course,  and  in 
September  of  the  same  year  sailed  for  the  Eastern  Tur- 
key Mission,  arriving  in  Harpoot,  where  he  was  sta- 
tioned, November  19,  1894.  He  promptly  and  with 
characteristic  faith  and  earnestness,  entered  upon  his 
work,  and  passed  through  the  terrible  experiences  of 
the  Armenian  massacre  and  the  months  of  trial  follow- 
ing. A  writer  in  the  Missionary  Herald  speaks  of  the 
tender  care  and  aid  which  he  rendered  to  Dr.  Wheeler 
during  his  great  feebleness,  stating  that  after  conduct- 
ing Dr.  Wheeler  and  his  family  as  far  as  Constanti- 
nople on  their  return  to  this  country,  he  hastened  back 
to  his  work,  in  which  he  engaged  with  all  ardor.  In  a 
letter  addressed  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Board,  and 
written  but  a  few  months  before  his  death,  in  giving  a 
report  of  a  recent  visit  to  three  places,  Palu,  Peri,  Per- 
tek,  he  writes:  "In  one  of  these  places  are  eighty-six 
households — not  individuals,  but  households — of  wid- 
ows and  orphans  with  no  means  of  providing  bread. 
Five  or  six  wretched  orphan  boys  came  begging  of  us 
in  the  market  place.  Women  and  children  were  in  the 
streets,  going  from  place  to  place,  begging  even  of  the 

[622] 


Biographical  Sketches 

Turks,  and  finding  lodging  where  best  they  might. 
What  a  school  of  degradation  and  crime!"  Before  his 
death  he  had  already  acquired  sufficient  command  of  the 
language  to  enable  him  to  engage  in  evangelistic  work, 
in  which  he  was  especially  interested.  One  of  his  last 
services  in  the  mission  was  the  distribution  to  the  village 
congregations  of  some  Sunday-school  books  which  had 
been  detained  at  the  capital.  After  personally  distrib- 
uting these  books  in  the  nearer  villages,  he  decided  to  go 
on  the  same  errand  to  villages  more  remote.  It  was  on 
one  of  these  journeys,  after  calling  at  several  villages, 
that,  on  February  17,  1897,  he  was  taken  with  a  violent 
chill.  He  insisted  on  riding  to  Ichme.  Although  he 
here  came  under  the  tender  care  of  Christian  brethren, 
and  had  the  attendance  of  skilful  physicians,  the  attack 
from  the  first  was  so  severe  that  no  human  remedies 
could  avail,  and  he  died  of  congestion  of  the  brain  on 
the  morning  of  February  22.  The  body  was  taken  for 
burial  to  Harpoot.  Among  those  who  called  shortly 
after  the  funeral  services  to  express  their  sympathy, 
was  a  Gregorian  priest,  who,  in  behalf  of  the  people, 
sent  a  message  of  most  kindly  appreciation  to  the  kin- 
dred of  Mr.  Ellis. 

The  missionary  associates  of  Mr.  Ellis  gave  most 
tender  and  affectionate  testimonials  of  his  character  and 
work.  Dr.  H.  N.  Barnum  wrote:  "One  of  the  most 
marked  characteristics  of  Mr.  Ellis  was  his  sincerity. 
There  was  no  sham  in  him.  He  was  as  sincere  in  his 
spiritual  life  as  in  everything  else.  He  was  a  true 
Christian.  He  was  thoroughly  unselfish.  Perhaps  he 
thought  too  little  of  self.  He  was  persistent  in  what- 
ever he  undertook.  No  obstacle  would  turn  him  aside 
from  anything  which  he  thought  to  be  right." 

He  was  not  married. 


[628] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

CLASS  OF  1902 

LANSING  BARTLETT  BLOOM,  son  of  Richard  H.  and 
Anna  Root  (Porter)  Bloom,  and  grandson  of  John 
Clark  and  Frances  (Hyde)  Bloom,  and  of  Lansing  and 
Elizabeth  (Curtis)  Porter,  was  born  in  Auburn,  New 
York,  April  12,  1880.  Through  his  father,  Mr.  Bloom 
traces  his  lineage  back  to  English,  Dutch,  and  French 
Huguenot  ancestry,  and  through  his  mother  to  New 
England  Puritans,  one  of  them  being  Elder  William 
Brewster  of  the  -Mayflower.  The  grandfather,  Lansing 
Porter,  was  a  Congregational  minister.  The  father, 
who  was  a  wholesale  and  retail  merchant,  was  an  elder 
in  the  Presbyterian  church,  and  active  in  local  Christian 
Association  work.  His  marked  characteristics  were 
firmness  of  principle,  sensitiveness  and  gentleness  of 
spirit,  and  a  wonderful  bravery  of  soul  combined  with 
a  high  sense  of  responsibility  in  his  own  work  as  a  citi- 
zen, and  in  various  Christian  activities.  The  son  made 
a  profession  of  religion  at  the  age  of  twelve,  and  since 
the  age  of  fourteen  has  been  a  life  member  of  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association. 

He  fitted  for  college  in  the  High  School  at  Auburn, 
New  York,  and  entered  Williams  as  a  Freshman  in 
1898.  He  had  a  brother,  Richard  Porter  Bloom,  in  the 
class  of  1901,  and  another  brother,  Raymond  Curtis 
Bloom,  is  a  member  of  the  class  of  1915.  In  college 
Lansing  Bloom  ranked  well  in  scholarship,  and  engaged 
in  various  student  activities.  He  was  awarded  a  Rice 
Book  prize,  and  was  a  speaker  at  the  Junior  Prelimi- 
nary Oratorical  Contest,  his  subject  being  "Optimism." 
He  was  a  member  of  the  Philotechnian  Society,  of 
which  he  was  secretary  in  Junior  year.  He  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Mills  Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  in 
which  he  was  chairman  of  the  missionary  committee, 
and  a  member  of  the  Student  Volunteer  Band.  He  was 
vice-president  of  the  Chess  Club  and  a  member  of  the 

[624] 


Biographical  Sketches 

Greater  New  York  Club;  of  the  Chemical  Society;  of 
the  Glee  Club;  and  of  the  chapel  choir. 

After  graduation,  he  matriculated  at  Auburn  Theo- 
logical Seminary,  and  after  studying  there  for  a  few 
weeks  he  went  to  New  Mexico  for  the  benefit  of  his 
health,  spending  some  time  at  the  Agricultural  College 
at  Mesilla  Park,  where  he  "secured  a  most  satisfactory 
blend  of  work  and  play."  During  the  year  1903-04  he 
labored  among  the  Mormons  under  the  Utah  Gospel 
Mission,  itinerating  about  1000  miles  by  wagon.  He 
then  returned  to  Auburn  Seminary  to  complete  the 
course  and  was  graduated  in  1907.  Having  been  ap- 
pointed in  the  spring  of  that  year  by  the  Presbyterian 
Board  of  Foreign  Missions  to  Mexico,  he  was  assigned 
to  the  Saltillo  Mission,  which  he,  with  his  wife,  reached 
about  the  1st  of  August.  While  he  was  learning  the 
language  he  had  a  beginning  in  itinerating  with  his 
older  associate  and  in  evangelistic  work  with  the  Mexi- 
can pastor  in  Saltillo;  and  also  had  charge  of  the  Eng- 
lish congregation,  with  work  among  the  foreign  colony. 
His  foreign  mission  work,  which  had  lasted  about  a  year 
and  a  half,  was  interrupted  in  August,  1905,  by  serious 
illness.  He  was  taken  for  convalescence  to  Mesilla 
Park,  New  Mexico,  where  Mrs.  Bloom  in  the  meantime 
taught  school.  In  the  spring  he  was  sufficiently  recov- 
ered to  accept  charge  of  the  mission  church  (American) 
in  that  place,  under  the  Presbyterian  Board  of  Home 
Missions,  and  continued  in  that  position  until  the  begin- 
ning of  the  next  year.  While  there  he  helped  organize 
a  Civic  League  in  the  valley.  On  January  1,  1911,  he 
began  work  for  the  Jemez  Pueblo  Indians,  having 
charge  also  of  a  Mexican  and  American  church  at  Je- 
mez Springs.  These  Indians,  numbering  554,  are  a  sort 
of  miniature  nation  by  themselves.  They  have  a  lan- 
guage distinct  from  that  of  any  other  pueblo,  having 
their  own  officers,  with  religion  and  customs  of  their 

[625] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

own.  Their  religion  is  blended  with  Roman  Catholi- 
cism in  curious  ways ;  while  their  customs  and  usages  are 
hallowed  by  a  long  period  of  time,  some  of  them  being 
introduced  by  the  Spaniards  more  than  two  centuries 
ago.  They  are  a  peace-loving  and  friendly  people,  and 
are  anxious  to  receive  education.  Though  a  Presby- 
terian mission  was  started  with  some  aid  from  the  Gov- 
ernment in  1875,  no  evangelical  work  had  been  done 
for  some  years  before  the  arrival  of  Mr.  Bloom.  Jemez 
is  so  isolated  that  the  priest  has  had  large  influence,  and 
there  is  great  need  of  evangelical  work  there,  which  has 
to  be  done,  of  course,  in  face  of  the  strong  opposition  of 
the  Franciscan  padres.  Though  Mr.  Bloom  is  now 
within  the  boundaries  of  our  own  country,  he  finds  the 
work  he  is  doing  really  more  "foreign"  than  was  the 
work  in  Saltillo.  In  a  letter  printed  in  the  Decennial 
Record  of  his  class  Mr*  Bloom  says :  "It  would  give  an 
idea  of  this  country  to  say  that  I  did  about  2000  miles 
in  the  saddle  last  year.  I  rode  up  from  Mesilla  Park ; 
it  is  sixty  miles  to  Santa  Fe,  forty-seven  to  Albuquer- 
que, thirteen  to  Jemez  Springs  (where  .1  look  after  a 
small  church  also),  and  beyond  that  ranches  scattered 
through  the  mountains.  And  beyond  them,  Navajoes 
and  Apaches." 

Along  with  his  evangelistic  work,  Mr.  Bloom  is  in- 
terested in  doing  some  historical  and  sociological  work. 
At  the  Commencement  in  1912,  his  Alma  Mater  con- 
ferred on  him  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts,  the  subject 
of  his  thesis  being  "New  Mexico's  History  from  1821 
to  1846."  He  proposes  to  continue  still  further  his  in- 
vestigations in  this  line  of  research. 

On  July  19,  1907,  he  was  married  at  Santa  Fe,  New 
Mexico,  to  Miss  Maude  McFie,  daughter  of  John  R. 
and  Mary  (Steele)  McFie,  granddaughter  of  Robert 
and  Elizabeth  (McPherson)  McFie  and  of  Richard 
and  Eliza  (Black)  Steele.  Robert  McFie  had  a  family 

[626] 


Biographical  Sketches 

of  eight  children,  and  was  a  teacher  in  a  Scotch  Cove- 
nanter Colony  which  came  via  Edinburgh  and  Canada 
to  Coulterville,  Illinois.  They  were  "Old  Lights/' 
Richard  Steele,  the  maternal  grandfather,  whose  people 
were  from  the  Scotch  Lowlands,  brought  his  family 
from  Steelville,  County  Antrim,  Ireland.  They  were 
"New  Lights." 

There  was  born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bloom  one  daugh- 
ter, who  died  in  June,  1911,  at  the  age  of  six  months. 


CLASS  OF  1905 

LINDSAY  STILL  WELL  BACKUS  HADLEY  was  born  in 
Seneca  Falls,  New  York,  May  9,  1883,  being  the  son 
of  Benjamin  F.  Hadley  and  Helen  Backus,  who  was 
the  daughter  of  William  and  Ann  Stillwell  Backus. 
The  son  fitted  for  college  at  Mynderse  Academy  in  his 
native  place,  and  entered  Williams  as  a  Freshman  in 
1901.  In  college  he  engaged  in  various  student  activi- 
ties, being  interested  in  Young  Men's  Christian  Asso- 
ciation work,  and  being  manager  of  the  class  Basketball 
Team  for  one  season.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Alpha 
Zeta  Alpha  Society;  of  the  Classical  Society;  and  of 
the  Western  New  York  Club.  He  was  a  superior  stu- 
dent, taking  Benedict  and  Delano  prizes  in  Greek  and 
graduating  with  a  Commencement  appointment.  After 
graduation  he  pursued  a  course  of  study  in  Auburn 
Theological  Seminary,  graduating  in  1908.  He  then 
became  for  two  years  pastor  of  a  Presbyterian  church 
in  Sacketts  Harbor,  and  from  1910  to  1913  he  was  asso- 
ciate pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Glens 
Falls,  New  York. 

He  was  married  in  New  York  City  January  13, 
1914,  to  Miss  Mary  Wheeler  Humphrey,  daughter  of 
George  and  Caroline  (Scranton)  Humphrey,  and  a 
graduate  of  Wellesley  College.  On  February  21  fol- 

[627] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

lowing,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hadley  sailed  on  the  Adriatic 
under  appointment  of  the  Presbyterian  Board  of  For- 
eign Missions  to  engage  in  missionary  work  in  Peking. 


CLASS  OF  1908 

LUTHER  RICHARDSON  FOWLE  was  born  in  Talas 
(Cesarea),  Turkey,  July  30,  1886.  He  was  not  only 
born  on  missionary  ground  but  came  of  missionary 
stock,  his  parents  being  Rev.  James  Luther  and  Mrs. 
Carrie  Palmer  (Farns worth)  Fowle,  of  Cesarea,  and 
his  grandparents  Rev.  Dr.  Wilson  Amos  and  Mrs.  Car- 
oline Elizabeth  (Palmer)  Farnsworth,  also  of  Cesarea. 
Dr.  Farnsworth,  who  died  June,  1912,  at  Thetford, 
Vermont,  at  the  age  of  90,  was  for  more  than  half 
a  century  a  missionary  of  the  American  Board.  He 
was  graduated  from  Middlebury  College  in  1848,  and 
Andover  Seminary  in  1852,  and  embarked  at  Boston 
on  December  22,  of  the  same  year.  After  spending 
more  than  a  year  at  Marsovan,  he  arrived  at  Cesarea, 
the  scene  of  his  life  work,  June  16,  1854.  It  is  re- 
corded in  his  diary  that  during  the  period  of  his  mis- 
sionary service  he  travelled  70,000  miles,  30,000  of 
which  were  on  horseback.  He  received  the  honorary 
degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity  from  Middlebury  Col- 
lege in  1877.  Rev.  James  L.  Fowle,  the  father  of  the 
subject  of  this  sketch,  was  educated  at  Amherst  Col- 
lege and  Andover  Theological  Seminary,  and  with  his 
wife  sailed  from  New  York  for  Turkey  September  12, 
1878.  Mr.  Fowle,  being  stationed  at  Cesarea,  in  West- 
ern Turkey,  became  a  colleague  of  Dr.  Farnsworth  (the 
father  of  Mrs.  Fowle),  and  until  recently  was  in  active 
service  there.  Besides  his  parents,  Mr.  Luther  R. 
Fowle  has  a  sister,  Miss  Mary  Carolyn  Fowle,  who  is 
engaged  in  missionary  work  in  Adabazar,  Turkey. 
An  elder  brother,  Luther  Wilson  Fowle,  who  was  grad- 

[628] 


Biographical  Sketches 

uated  here  in  1907,  is  teaching  in  China.  A  younger 
brother,  Hubert  W.  Fowle,  who  was  graduated  here 
in  1910,  is  preparing  to  be  a  medical  missionary.  This 
proclivity  to  the  missionary  life  may  be  due  in  part  to 
the  nationality  of  the  ancestry,  the  Fowles  coming  from 
Scotland  at  an  early  period,  being  among  the  original 
settlers  of  Woburn,  Massachusetts,  in  1642  and  later. 

Mr.  Fowle  fitted  for  college  at  the  Lawrenceville 
School  and  at  the  Newton  High  School,  and  entered 
Williams  as  a  Freshman  in  1904.  For  a  part  of  his 
course  he  had  two  brothers  as  college  mates, — Theodore 
W.  in  1907  and  Hubert  W.  in  1910.  He  was  a  prom- 
inent member  of  the  class  in  various  student  activities. 
He  took  an  active  interest  in  debating  as  a  member  of 
the  Philologian  Society  and  on  the  Sophomore  debat- 
ing team.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Lawrenceville 
Club,  and  of  the  Lyceum  of  Natural  History,  of  which 
he  was  one  of  the  presidents,  and  in  Junior  year  the 
secretary.  He  always  stood  well  in  the  work  of  the 
curriculum;  he  took  the  first  prize  in  the  Moonlight 
contest  of  his  Junior  year,  and  received  an  appoint- 
ment at  Commencement.  His  special  study  was  biol- 
ogy. He  was  a  member  of  the  class  Cross-country  Team 
Freshman  year,  and  class  Track  Team  Freshman  and 
Sophomore  years.  He  played  on  the  class  Basket-ball 
Team  during  the  last  three  years  of  his  course,  and 
made  the  'Varsity  team  as  substitute  in  Senior  year. 
He  was  also  for  a  time  member  of  the  College  Choir. 

After  graduation  he  spent  a  year  in  Turkey,  visit- 
ing his  native  place  and  making  observations  in  various 
parts  of  the  Empire.  After  his  return  to  this  country 
he  spent  a  year  and  a  half  in  Union  Theological  Semi- 
nary, and  on  February  14,  1912,  he  sailed  to  take  up 
the  work  to  which  his  parents  and  grandparents  de- 
voted their  lives,  though  in  Central  instead  of  Western 
Turkey.  He  was  assigned  to  the  station  at  Aintab, 

[629] 


Williams  College  and  Missions 

but  before  going  there  he  was  to  spend  some  time  in 
the  office  of  the  Mission  Treasurer  at  Constantinople, 
that  he  might  become  familiar  with  the  work  of  that 
department,  which  is  closely  related  to  the  business  ad- 
ministration of  the  different  Turkey  missions  of  the 
Board. 

Mr.  Fowle  stands  at  the  beginning  of  a  career 
which,  it  is  hoped,  may  prove  a  long  and  useful  one. 
He  has  not  only  the  inspiration  which  comes  from  the 
cause  to  which  he  has  devoted  himself,  but  that  which 
comes  from  an  ancestry  which  has  been  devoted  to  the 
same  service. 

He  was  married  in  Constantinople,  by  Professor 
Huntington,  September  10,  1913,  to  Miss  Helen  Cur- 
tis, daughter  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Frank  E.  Curtis,  of 
North  Adams,  Massachusetts.  Mrs.  Fowle  was  grad- 
uated at  Wellesley  College  in  1908.  After  teach- 
ing for  a  time  in  this  country,  she  was  sent  out  to 
Turkey  by  the  Women's  Board,  and  became  a  teacher 
of  English  branches  and  physical  culture  at  the  Ana- 
tolia Girls'  School  at  Marsovan. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Fowle  are  now  located  at  Aintab, 
where,  besides  being  treasurer  and  business  manager  of 
the  mission,  he  is  doing  some  teaching  and  giving  some 
time  to  itinerating  among  the  outlying  villages. 


[630] 


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A  History  of  Williams  College.  By  Rev.  Calvin  Durfee.  Bos- 
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Williams  Biographical  Annals.  By  Rev.  Calvin  Durfee,  D.D. 
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The  History  of  the  Descendants  of  Elder  John  Strong,  of  North- 
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Father  Eells,  or  the  Results  of  Fifty-five  Years  of  Missionary 
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A  History  of  American  Baptist  Missions  in  Asia,  Africa,  Europe 
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[634  ] 


INDEX 


SMALL  CAPITALS  indicate  the  persons  of  whom  Biographical 
Sketches  are  given. 


Abbott,  L.,  209. 

Abeih,  164. 

Acre,  342. 

Adabazar,  628. 

Adams,  E.  A.,  431. 

Adams,  W.  W.,  388. 

Adana,  577,  578. 

Africa,  50,   276. 

African   School,  50. 

Age,  89. 

Ahmednagar,    211. 

Aidin,  536. 

Ain  Zehalta,  339. 

Aintab,   465,  629. 

Aleppo,  265. 

ALEXANDER,  JAMES  M.,  410-414. 

ALLCHIN,  GEORGE,  579-583. 

ALLEN,  DAVID  O.,  108-114. 

ALLEN,  HERBERT  M.,  599-605. 

Amahlongwa,    363. 

Amanzimtoti,    288. 

AmauaUf  590. 

American  Baptist,  137. 

American     Bible     Society,     94, 

164. 

American  Board,  2,  123. 
American  Rendezvous,  203. 
Anapauo,  587. 
Anatolia  College,  486. 
Anderson,    Secretary,    28,    105, 

333. 

ANDRUS,  ALPHEUS  N.,  478-483. 
Ante-Taurus,  479. 
Antonio  Kangombe,  546. 
Araucanian  Indians,  95. 
Arcot,  238. 
Areopagus,  90. 
Arkansas  Cherokees,   176. 
Armenian  Mission,  426. 
Armenians,  602. 
Armstrong,  S.  C.,  462. 

[635 


Assam,   135. 
Athens,   89. 
Aurupek,   590. 
Avedaper,   603. 

B 

Babajee,  116,   129. 

Bacon,  Leonard,  258. 

Bagdad,  481. 

Bailundu,    546. 

Bakali  language,   274. 

BALDWIN,  DWIGHT,   104-108. 

Ballard,  Addison,  253,  256. 

Bangalore,  597. 

Bangkok,  292,  610. 

Baptist    Missionary    Magazine, 

139. 

Bardezag,  301,  603. 
Bardwell,  H.,  22. 
Barnum,  H.  N.,  623. 
Barton,  J.  L.,  460. 
Bascom,   John,   335. 
Battalagundu,  399. 
Batticotta,  325. 
Batticotta  Seminary,  149,  282. 
BECKWITH,     EDWARD    G.,    334- 

337. 

Beirut,  265,  519. 
Beirut  College,  523. 
Benguella,  545. 
BENJAMIN,  NATHAN,  181-187. 
BENTON,  WILLIAM  A.,  264-269. 
BEST,  JACOB,  274-277. 
Bhamdun,  267. 
Bihe,  546. 
Bijnaur,  494. 
Bingham,  Hiram,  5. 
Bishop,  Bernice  Pauahi,  354 ;  S. 

E.,  174. 
Bitlis,  408. 

BLOOM,  LANSING  B.,  624-627. 
Bohemians,  429. 


Index 


Bombay,  47,  111. 

Bombay  Missionary  Union,  20. 

Boolanuk,  408. 

BOON-ITT,  BOON,  610-621;  Me- 
morial, 616. 

Boxer  Rising,  571. 

Brazil,  606. 

"Brethren,  The,"  28,  42,  46,  67. 

BREWSTER,  FREDERICK  H.,  317- 
319. 

BRIGHAM,  JOHN  C.,  94-96. 

Broosa,  537. 

Brown,  A.  J.,  615. 

BROWN,  NATHAN,  132-141. 

Browning,  R.,  91. 

Briinn,  428. 

Buenos  Ayres,  94. 

Buffalo  meat,  method  of  curing, 
189. 

Bulgaria,  421,  422,  593. 

Bulgarian  language,  423. 

BURBANK,  LYSANDER  T.,  407- 
410. 

Burgess,  E.,  51. 

Burma,  135. 

BURNELL,  ALFRED  H.,  565-568. 

BUSH,  STEPHEN,  291,  295. 

Busi  River,  557. 

BUTLER-,  SAMUEL  R.,  414-415. 


Calcutta,  68. 

CALHOUN,    CHARLES    W.,    520- 

524. 

CALHOUN,  SIMEON  H.,  162-169. 
Canton,   318. 
Cape  Palmas,   160. 
Cape  Town,  306. 
GARDEN,    PATRICK    L.,   462-464. 
Carter,  Franklin,   127. 
Cawnpore,  494. 
Central  Turkey,  629. 
Cesarea,  628. 
Ceylon,  60,  436. 
Ceylon  Mission,  60. 
Chaldaeans,  257. 
Chandler,  J.  E.,  251. 
CHAPIN,  WILLIAM  W.,  433-433. 
Cl/erokee  Indians,  213. 
Chikore,  557. 
Chilemo,  546. 


Chili,  552. 

China,  444,  570,  573. 

Chinese    language,     method    of 

learning,  444. 
Chittur,  238. 

Choctaw  Indians,  77,  270,  831. 
Choctaw    Mission,    345. 
Chow  Fah  Mongkut,  293. 
Christian  Advocate,  30. 
Christian  Union,  209. 
Ciyuka,  549. 

CLARK,  WALTER  H.,  381-386. 
COAN,  GEORGE  W.,  319-324. 
Collins,  C.  T.,  430. 
Colonization  Society,  50. 
Columbia  River,  3. 
Columbian  College,  70. 
Constantinople,  426,  484,  630. 
Corisco    Mission,    382. 
CORWIN,  ELI,  332-334. 
COUNT,  ELMER  E.,  591-593. 
CRANE,    NATHANIEL    M.,    197- 

199. 

Craven,  J.    T.,  495. 
CRAWFORD,    LYNDON    S.,     533- 

540;  R.,  535. 
Crimean  War,  427. 

D 

Darwin,   C.,   417. 

Day  spring,  229. 

De  Riemer,  W.  E.,  328. 

Deir  Mimas,  278. 

Diarbekir,  257,  266. 

Dindigul,  198. 

Doorlee   Dhapoor,  20. 

Douai,    179. 

Druze  chieftain,  268. 

Druze  massacre,  167. 

Druzes,  268. 

DUNBAR,    JOHN,    187-190. 

Durfee,  Calvin,  7,  14. 

D  wight,  station  at,  213. 


East  India  Company,  14. 
Eastern    Turkey    Mission,    455, 

602. 

EDDY,  WILLIAM  W.,  295-300. 
Edwards,  H.  E.,  262. 
EELLS,  CUSHING,  199-210. 


[  636  ] 


Index 


Eliot,  station  at,  78. 
Ellinwood,  F.  F.,  380. 
ELLIS,  EGBERT  S.,  621-623. 
Ellora,  excavations  at,  110. 
EMERSON,  OLIVER  P.,  497-500. 
Erzroom,  408. 
Eski  Zaghra,  421. 
Euphrates    College,    600. 
"Evangelical    Gymnasium,"    89. 
Evangelist,  298. 

F 

"Faithful  Villages,"  537. 
Farik,  589. 
"Father  Mills,"   36. 
Field,  H.  M.,  262. 
FISK,  EZRA,  27-31,  43. 
Fitch,  Ebenezer,   10. 
Flat  Head  Indians,  4. 
Florence,  592. 
Foochow,  403. 
FORD,  GEORGE  A.,  518-520. 
FORD,  HENRY  A.,  253-255. 
FORD,  JOSHUA  E.,  277-281. 
Fort  Walla  Walla,  3. 
FOWLE,  LUTHER  R.,  628-630. 
FRENCH,  OZRO,  210-212. 
Friend,  413. 
Futtehgurh,  437. 

G 

Gaboon,  254;  Mission,  253,  274. 

Gamwell,  W.,  71. 

GARDNER,  CHARLES  H.,  330-332. 

GATES,  LORIN  S.,  508-511. 

Gawar,   321. 

Geog  Tapa,  232. 

Georgia  Cherokees,  214. 

Gladden,   W.,  424. 

Gochnag,  602. 

Good  Land,  369. 

Goodale,  S.  B.,  345. 

GOODRICH,  CHAUNCEY,  440-448. 

GOULD,  Louis  A.,  528-530. 

Greece,  182. 

Greek      Evangelical      Alliance, 

536. 

GREEN,  BYRAM,  6-8,  54. 
Greene,  J.  K.,  423,  604. 
Griffin,  E.  D.,  42,  134,  534. 
Guatemala,   450. 


GULICK,  JOHN  T.,  415-419. 
GULICK,  THOMAS  L.,  488-492. 
Gungunyana,  556. 

H 

HADLEY,   LINDSEY,   S.    B.,   627- 

628. 

Haiku,  413. 
Hainan,  599. 
Halifax,   180. 
Hall,  G.  A.,  21. 
HALL,  GORDON,  8-23. 
Hallock,  Moses,  57;  G.,  103. 
Halsey,    C.    C.,    276,    281,    285, 

342. 

Hamadan,  323. 
Hana,  244. 
Harpoot,  600. 
HARRIS,  JOHN  K.,  345-349. 
HASKELL,  HENRY  C.,  419-425. 
Hastings,  E.  P.,  329. 
Hawaii,   500. 
Hawaiian  Islands,  353. 
Haystack,  Williamstown,  7,  40. 
Hazen,  A.,  434. 
HERRICK,  DAVID  S.,  593-598. 
HERRICK,  JAMES,  246-252. 
HERVEY,  WILLIAM,   114-117. 
HICKS,  FREDERICK,  448-453. 
Hill,  C.  J.,  351. 
Hilo,  157,  493. 
Hinduism,   149. 
HITCHCOCK,    HARVEY    K.,    141- 

147. 
HOISINGTON,    HENRY    R.,    147- 

151. 

Hong  Kong,  416. 
Honolulu,  512. 
Hopkins,   Albert,   114. 
HOPKINS,   MARK,    117-127,  280. 
HOSKINS,  ROBERT,  493-496. 
House,  S.  R.,  611. 
Hsieh  Tai-Chang,  572. 
Huckel,  O.,  263. 
Hudson's  Bay  Company,  4,  205. 
HUTCHINGS,  SAMUEL,   151-155. 
HYDE,  CHARLES  McE.,  349-359. 
Hyderabad,   130. 


Ichme,  623. 


[637] 


Index 


Ifafa,  288. 
Inanda,  364. 
India,  493. 
Inghok  River,  403. 


Jaffna,  566. 

Jaffna  College,  327. 

Jaffnapatam,  61. 

Jaipur,    136. 

Jalna,   110. 

Japan,  575. 

Jeloo  Mountains,  321. 

Jemez  Pueblo  Indians,  625. 

Jemez  Springs,  625. 

Jerusalem,  85. 

Jessup,  H.  H.,  279,  298. 

Judson,  A.,  45. 


Kalgan,  416. 

Kalopathakes,  91. 

Kaluaaha,  143. 

Kamehameha,  99. 

Kamehameha  Schools,  354. 

Kamundongo,   547. 

Kaupo,  244. 

Kawaiahao     Female     Seminary, 

354. 

KELLOGG,  SAMUEL  H.,  435-440. 
Kennedy,  H.,  617. 
Kijabi,   492. 

KINCAID,  WILLIAM  M.,  511-517. 
KING,  JONAS,  83-93. 
Kingsbury,  C.,  213. 
Kipapula,  244. 
Kladno,  609. 
Kobe,  417. 
Kodikanal,  528. 
Kurdish  Chief,  458. 
Kurdistan,  601. 
Kusaie,  586. 
Kyushu,  581. 


La  Alianza  Evanjelica,  470. 

Labrador,  414. 

Ladies'     Greek     Committee     of 

New  York,  88. 
Lahaina,  98,   105. 


Lahainaluna,  105. 

Lake  Apollonia,  537. 

Lake  Van,  408. 

Landour,  438. 

Laos,   584. 

Lapwai,  202. 

Layard,  259. 

LEAVITT,   HORACE   H.,  500-503. 

"Lebanon,  The,"  166. 

Liberia,  51. 

Liholiho,    99. 

Lin  Ching  Chou,  572. 

Lincoln,  President,  125. 

Lintsing,  570. 

LOCKWOOD,  JESSE,  175-177. 

Logan,  Robert  W.,  587. 

LOOMIS,  HARVEY,  31-35. 

LYMAN,  DAVID   B.,   155-159. 

LYONS,  JERRE  L.,  338-345. 

M 

Maa  Kim  Hock,  614. 

Maa  Tuan,  610. 

McAfee,  L.  M.,  384. 

MacLean,  G.  E.,   514. 

Madras,  237,  400. 

Madrid,  490. 

Madura,  596. 

Madura  Mission,  400,  526,  566. 

Mahableshwar  Hills,  129. 

Mahratta  language,  16;  Mis- 
sion, 508. 

Makamao,  413. 

Makawao,  491. 

Mana-Madura,  566. 

Mandarin  Colloquial  language, 
448. 

Manepay,  148. 

Manissa,  537. 

Mar  Yohamnan,  223. 

Marash,  577. 

MARCUSSON,  JACOB  W.,  359-361. 

Mardin,  479,  482;  location,  479; 
Orphanage  at,  481;  Theolog- 
ical Seminary  at,  482. 

Maronites,  341. 

Marquesas  Islands,  371. 

Marseilles,  86. 

MARSH,  DWIGHT  W.,  255-264; 
G.  P.,  90. 

Marsovan,  484. 


[688] 


Index 


Massachusetts  Missionary  Soci- 
ety, 2,  43. 

Maui,  105. 

Maynard,  W.  H.,  84. 

MEAD,  WILLIS  W.,  577-579. 

Melur,  566. 

Mlemikan,  321. 

MERWIN,  ALEXANDER  M.,  468- 
471. 

Mesilla  Park,  625. 

Mesopotamia,  479. 

Metawales,  341. 

Mexico  City,  531,  542. 

Micronesia,  353. 

Midyat,  481. 

MILLS,  CYRUS  T.,  281-287. 

MILLS,  SAMUEL  J.,  JR.,  35-56; 
S.  J.,  SR.,  36. 

Mills  Theological  Society,  28. 

"Missionary  Army,"  580. 

Missionary  Herald,  107,  176, 
185,  189,  194,  296,  431,  555. 

Missionary  Review  of  the 
World,  380. 

Missionary  Society  at  Williams 
College,  42. 

Missionary's  Call,  135. 

MITCHELL,  ARTHUR,  373-381. 

MITCHELL,  SAMUEL  S.,  471-474. 

Mollendo,  551. 

Molokai,   142. 

Montreal,  414. 

Moravia,  428. 

Morning  Star,  586. 

Mortlock  Islands,  587. 

Mosul,  259. 

Mount  Lebanon,  164. 

Mount  Silinda,  557. 

Mussulmans,  87. 

N 

Nachod,  609. 
Nasseek,  20. 

Natal,    316;   Harbor,   306. 
Neesima,  J.,  622. 
Nengenenge,    382. 
Nepean,  Sir  Evan,  14. 
Nestorian    Mission,   223. 
Nestorians,  227,  319. 
New  Mexico,  625. 


Nez  Perces,  4. 

Nicomedia,  804. 

Ningpo,  272,  529. 

North  China  Mission,  476. 

North  Pacific  Missionary  Insti- 
tute, 354. 

Northwestern  Christian  Advo- 
cate, 495. 

O 

Oahu  College,  283,  336. 

Obookiah,  Henry,  47. 

Occident,  284. 

OGDEN,  ROLLO,  540-543. 

Olandebenk,   274. 

Oleai,  590. 

Oodooville,  152. 

Oregon  Indians,  4;   River,  4. 

Orient,  603. 

Osaka,  417,  501,  579. 


Panama,  450. 
Panditeripo,  233,  325. 
Pang-Chuang,  569. 
Pao-ting-fu,  569. 
Paris,  178. 

PARKER,  SAMUEL,  1-6. 
PARSONS,  JUSTIN  W.,  300-305. 
Parvin,  T.,  94. 
Pasumalai,   193,  248,  399. 
Pasumalai  College,  595. 
Paton,  J.  G.,  380. 
Patterson,  R.  W.,  379. 
Patton,  C.  H.,  559. 
Pawnee  Indians,  188. 
Peking,  416,  444,  476,  628. 
Periakulam,   393,   597. 
PERKINS,    FREDERICK    J.,    605- 

606. 

PERKINS,  HENRY  P.,  568-576. 
PERRY,  HENRY  T.,  464-468. 
Persia,  163,  506. 
Philippopolis,  420. 
Phra  Montri,  615. 
PHRANER,  SAMUEL  K.,  583-584. 
Pilsen,  609. 
Pimplus,  434. 
Pitsanuloke,  614. 
PIXLEY,  STEPHEN  C.,  361-869. 


[639] 


Index 


Plainfield,  Mass.,  57. 

Polela  District,  556. 

POLHEMUS,  ISAAC  H.,  530-533. 

Ponape,  586. 

Poor,  Daniel,  63. 

Porter,  Ebenezer,  11. 

PORTER,  JOHN  S.,  606-610. 

Portuguese,  60. 

POTTER,  WILLIAM  S.,  369. 

Prague,    428,    607. 

Pratas  Shoal,  416. 

Pratt,  L.,  350,  367. 

Presbyterian    Board,     82,    377, 

470. 

Prime,  S.  I.,  93,  165. 
Prince  Damrong,  617. 
Prince   Su,   571. 
Pulney  Hills,  393,  395. 
Punahou  School,  411. 

Q 

Qua-Kieng,  294,  610. 

R 

Rankin,  W.,  186. 

RAYNOLDS,  GEORGE  C.,  453-462. 

Rays  of  Light,  323. 

READ,  HOLLIS,  127-132. 

Rhea,  S.  A.,  232. 

RICE,  LUTHER,  65-74. 

RICHARDS,  JAMES,  56-65. 

Richards,  T.  C.,  46. 

RICHARDS,  WILLIAM,  96-104. 

ROBBINS,  FRANCIS  L.  B.,  23-27. 

Robert  College,  428. 

Robert  W.  Logan,  587. 

ROBINSON,  CHARLES,  169-171. 

Rocky  Mountains,  3,  188. 

Romanes,  G.  T.,  417. 

Rome,  592. 

ROOD,  DAVID,  287-291. 

Royapoorum,  152. 


Sabi  River,  557. 

St.  Helena,  171. 

Sadiya,  136. 

Sakanjimba,  549. 

Salem   Tabernacle    Church,    18. 

47. 
Salonica,  301,  860. 


Saltillo  Mission,  625. 

San  Paulo,  606. 

SANDERS,    MARSHALL    D.,    324- 

330. 

SANDERS,  WILLIAM  H.,  544-551. 
Sandwich  Islands,  499. 
Santander,  490. 
Santiago,   469. 
Sassoon,  458. 

SCHAUFFLER,     HENRY     A.,     425- 

433. 
Schauffler    Missionary    Training 

School,  432. 

Schermerhorn,  J.  F.,  48. 
Schweifat,  523. 
SCUDDER,  DAVID  C.,  386-396. 
SCUDDER,   HENRY   M.,  233-244. 
Seir,  227. 
Semiramis,  456. 
Sennacherib,  456. 
Sert,  480. 

SEWARD,  JOHN,  75-76. 
SEYMOUR,  BELA  N.,  369-373. 
Shanghai,  476. 
Shansi,  446,   571. 
Shantung,  569. 
Shaohing,  529. 

SHELDON,  DAVID  N.,  177-181. 
Sholapur,  509. 
Sholavandan,  395. 
Siam,  170,  463,  620. 
Siam  and  Laos,  293. 
Sibsagar,  137. 
Sidon,   278;   Academy,  519. 
Singapore,  584. 
Sirur,  211. 
Sivas,  465,  466. 
Smichor,  609. 
SMITH,  LOWELL,  172-175. 
SMITH,  MAGNESS,  551-552. 
Smyrna,   164. 

SNELLING,  ALFRED,  585-590. 
"Society    of    Inquiry,"    46,    67, 

173. 

Sofia,  420. 
Spokane    Indians,    204;    River, 

204. 

Spring,  G.,  38. 
STOCKING,    WILLIAM    R.,    503- 

507. 


[640] 


Index 


Stoddard,  C.  A.,  383. 
STODDARD,    DAVID    T.,   217-233, 

163. 

Straits  Settlements,  584. 
STREET,  ALFRED  E.,  598-599. 
STRONG,  JOHN  C.,  269-271. 
STRONG,  JOSEPH  D.,  337-338 
Strong,  W.  E.,  21. 
Sumray,  614. 
SWIFT,  ELISHA  P.,  80-83. 
Syria,  296,  519. 
Syria  Mission,  339. 
Syrian  Protestant  College,  521. 
Syrians,  520. 

T 

Tabernacle   Church,   Salem,    13, 

47. 

Tabriz,  231. 
Tamo,  Deacon,  321. 
Tamil  language,  390. 
Tarbox,  I.  N.,  24. 
Tarsus,  578. 

Taylor,  E.,  261;  J.  B.,  73. 
Tellippallai,  60,  325. 
Tenos,  88. 
Terupuvanum,   197. 
THOMPSON,  FRANK,  492-493. 
Tientsin,  477,  569. 
Tigris  River,  257,  505. 
Tirumangalam,  191. 
Tirupavanam,  525. 
Tokyo,  241. 

TRACY,  CHARLES  C.,  483-488. 
TRACY,  JAMES  E.,  524-528. 
TRACY,  WILLIAM,  190-196. 
TREAT,  ALFRED  O.,  474-478. 
Trebizond,  537. 
Tripoli,  339,  522. 
Truk,  586. 
Tshimakain,  204. 
Tung-Chou,  445. 

U 

Umtali,  562. 

Umtwalume,  306. 

Umvoti,  288. 

Urumia,  223,  226,  320,  505,  602. 


Vaigai  River,  393. 


[641 


Valparaiso,  469. 

Van,    455,    456,    458;    College, 

461. 

Vancouver,  5. 
Varany,  151. 
Vellore,  238. 
Vermont  Telegraph,  135. 

W 

Wailuku,  411. 

Waimea,  105. 

Waioli,  411. 

Walla  Walla,  206. 

Warren,  Edward,  61. 

WASHBURN,    GEORGE     T.,    397- 

402. 

Western  Turkey,  428. 
Wheeler,  C.  H.,  600. 
Wheelock,   78. 
WHITE,  DAVID,  159-162. 
Whitman,  Marcus,  4,  202. 
Whitman  College,  207. 
Whitney,  W.  D.,  309. 
WHITTLESEY,    ELIPHALET,    244- 

246. 

WIGHT,  JOSEPH   K.,  271-273. 
WILDER,    GEORGE    A.,    552-565, 

311. 

WILDER,  HYMAN  A.,  305-317. 
Willamette  Valley,  206. 
WILLEY,    WORCESTER,    213-216 
Williams,  S.  W.,  476. 
WOODIN,  SIMEON  F.,  402-407. 
WRIGHT,  ALFRED,  76-80. 

X 

Xavier,  60. 

Y 

Yiicho,  445. 
Yokohama,    139. 
Youth's  Dayspring,  475. 
Yu  Chou,  477. 
Yuan  Shih  Kai,  571. 

Z 

Zacatecas,  531. 
Zahleh,  341. 
Zaragoza,  490. 
Zizkor,  609. 
Zululand,  554. 
Zulus,  288. 
Zumbro,  W.  M.,  401. 


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